568 



HISTORY OF ZOOPHYTES. 



idea of their figure, we may suppose the finger 

 of a g'love cut off at the bottom ; we may sup- 

 pose also several threads or horns planted round 

 the edge like a fringe. The hollow of this finger 

 will give us an idea of the stomach of the ani- 

 mal ; the threads issuing forth from the edges 

 may be considered as the arms or feelers with 

 which it hunts for its prey. The animal, at 

 its greatest extent, is seldom seen above an 

 inch and a half long, but it is much shorter 

 when it is contracted and at rest ; it is furnished 

 neither with muscles nor rings, and its man- 

 ner of lengthening or contracting itself more 

 resembles that of the snail, than worms, or any 

 other insect The polypus contracts itself 

 more or less, in proportion as it is touched, or 

 as the water is agitated in which they are 

 seen. Warmth animates them, and cold be- 

 numbs them ; but it requires a degree of cold 

 approaching congelation before they are re- 

 duced to perfect inactivity ; those of an inch 

 have generally their arms double, often thrice 

 as long as their bodies. The arms, where 

 the animal is not disturbed, and the season 

 not unfavourable, are thrown about in various 

 directions, in order to seize and entangle its 

 little prey ; sometimes three or four of the 

 arms are thus employed, while the rest are 

 contracted like the horns of a snail, within the 

 animal's body. It seems capable of giving 

 what length it pleases to these arms ; it con- 

 tracts and extends them at pleasure, and 

 stretches them only in proportion to the re- 

 rnoteness of the object it would seize. 



These animals have a progressive motion, 

 which is performed by that power they have 

 of lengthening and contracting themselves at 

 pleasure ; they go from one part of the bot- 

 tom to another ; they mount along the margin 

 of the water, and climb up the side of aquatic 

 plants. They often are seen to come to the 

 surface of the water, where they suspend 

 themselves by their lower end. As they ad- 

 vance but very slowly, they employ a great 

 deal of time in every action, and bind them- 

 selves very strongly to whatever body they 

 chance to move upon as they proceed ; their 

 adhesion is voluntary, and is probably per- 

 formedin the manner of a cupping-glass applied 

 to the body. 



All animals of this kind have a remarkable 

 attachment to turn towards the light; and this 

 naturally might induce an inquirer to look for 

 their eyes ; but however carefully this search 

 has been pursued, and however excellent the 

 microscope with which every part was ex- 

 amined, yet nothing of the appearance of this 

 organ was found over the whole body ; and it 

 is most probable that, like several other insects 

 which hunt their prey by their feeling, these 

 creatures are unfurnished with advantages 

 which would be totally useless for their support. 



In the centre of the arms, as was said be- 

 fore, the mouth is placed, which the animal 

 can open and shut at pleasure, and this serves 

 at once as a passage for food, and an opening 

 for it after digestion. The inward part of the 

 animal's body seems to be one great stomach, 

 which is open at both ends ; but the purposes 

 which the opening at the bottom serves are 

 hitherto unknown, but certainly not for ex- 

 cluding their excrements, for those are ejected 

 at the aperture by which they are taken in. 

 If the surface of the body of this little creature 

 be examined with a microscope, it will be 

 found studded with a number of warts, as also 

 the arms, especially when they are contracted; 

 and these tubercles, as we shall presently see, 

 answer a very important purpose. 



If we examine their way of living, we shall 

 find these insects chiefly subsisting upon 

 others, much less than themselves, particularly 

 a kind of millepedes that live in the waler, 

 and a very small red worm, which they seize 

 with great avidity. In short, no insect what- 

 soever, less than themselves, seems to come 

 amiss to them ; their arms, as was said before, 

 serve them as a net would a fisherman, or 

 perhaps, more exactly speaking, as a lime- 

 twig does a fowler. 



\Vherever their prey is perceived, which 

 the animal effects by its feeling, it is sufficient 

 to touch the object it would seize upon, and it 

 is fastened without a power of escaping. The 

 instant one of this insect's long arms is laid 

 upon a millepede, the little insect sticks with- 

 out a possibility of retreating. The greater 

 the distance at which it is touched, the greater 

 is the ease with which the polypus brings the 

 prey to its mouth. If the little object be near, 

 though irretrievably caught, it is not without 

 great difficulty that it can be brought to the 

 mouth to be swallowed. When the polypus 

 is unsupplied with prey, it testifies its hunger 

 by opening its mouth; the aperture, however, 

 is so small that it cannot be easily perceived ; 

 but when, with any of its long arms, it has 

 seized upon its prey, it then opens the mouth 

 distinctly enough, and this opening is always 

 in proportion to the size of the animal which 

 it would swallow : the lips dilate insensibly 

 by small degrees, and adjust themselves pre- 

 cisely to the figure of their prey. Mr Trembley , 

 who took a pleasure in feeding this useless 

 brood, found that they could devour aliments 

 of every kind, fish and flesh, as well as in- 

 sects ; but he owns they did not thrive so well 

 upon beef and veal, as upon the little worms 

 of their own providing. When he gave one 

 of these famished reptiles any substance which 

 was improper to serve for aliment, at first it 

 seized the prey with avidity, but after keep- 

 ing it sometime entangled near the mouth, it 

 dropped it again with distirguishing nicety. 



