41G HISTORY OF 



seen. Warmth animates them, and fold benumbs them ; but it 

 requires ii degree of cold approaching congelation before thcv 

 are i-educed to perfect inactivity ; those of an inch have gene- 

 rally their arras 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 

 lie arms are thus employed, while the rest are contracted like 

 the horns of a snail, within the animal's body. It seems capa- 

 ble of giving what length it pleases to these arms ; it contracts 

 and extends them at pleasure, and stretches them only in pro- 

 portion to the remoteness of the object it would seize. 



These animals have a progressive motion, which is performed 

 by that power they have of lengthening and contracting them- 

 selves at pleasure ; they go from one part of the bottom to an- 

 other ; 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 advance but very slowly, they employ a 

 great deal of time in every action, and bind themselves very 

 strongly to whatever body they chance to move upon as they 

 proceed ; their adhesion is voluntary, and is probably performed 

 in 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 in- 

 quirer to look for their eyes ; but however carefully this search 

 has been pursued, and however excellent the microscope with 

 which every part was examined, 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 before, 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 aftei 

 digestion. The inward part of the animal's body seems to be 

 one great stomach, which is open at both ends ; but the pur- 

 poses which the opening at the bottom serves are hitherto un- 

 known, but certainly not for excluding their excrements, for 

 those are ejected at the aperture by which they are taken in. 



