103 



bnt from cuttings. So the willow twig cut off, and 

 ooly stuck in the ground, presently takes root, and 

 is as perfect a tree as that whence it is taken. This 

 is common in the vegetable kingdom, and we have a 

 rare example of it in the animal. 



One sort" of polypus is an aquatic animal, to be 

 found in ditch-water. It is very slender, and has on 

 the fore part several horns, which serve it for legs 

 and arms. Between these is the mouth, it opens into 

 the stomach, which takes up the whole length of the 

 body indeed the whole body is but one pipe, a sort 

 of gut which opens at both ends. 



The common polypus is about three quarters of an 

 inch long, but there are many species of them, some 

 of which can extend themselves to the lengih of six 

 or seven inches. Even in the same species, the num- 

 ber of legs and arms is not always the samej but they 

 havo seldom lower than MX. I > : body and arrasf 



may be inliattxl all mamuT o. ^. . i hence it i, c , 

 that they put themselves into so .a->.f a variety uf 

 figures. 



They do not sv,im, but era v' or: he g mini, or on 

 any body they meet with in die \vaters. They usually 

 fix their posterior end to some thing, and stretch their 

 bodits, and arms into the water. With these arms 

 they catch numberless insects, which arc swimming 

 up and down. A polypus, having seized its prey, 

 uses oueor more arms to bring it to his mouth. He 

 can master a worm thrice as long as himself, which, 

 he swallows whole, and having drawn all that is* nu. 

 tritive from it, then throws out the skin. 



46 1 have cut a polypus in two between seven and 

 eight in the morning, and before three in the afternoon 

 each part was a complete animal, able to eat a worm 

 as long as itself. If a polypus be cut lengthways, 

 beginning at the head, but not quite to the tail, there 

 is a polypus with two heads, two bodies, and one tail. 

 Some of these heads and bodies may soon be cut 

 lengthways again. Thus I have produced a polypus 

 with seven heads, seven bodies, and one tail. 1 cut 



F4 



