(J8 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. 



Stronger, having obtained the victory, swallows at 

 a single gulp, not only the object of contention, 



but its antagonist also. This scene is represented 

 in Fig. 244, m here the tail of the hydra, of which 

 the body has been swallowed by the victor, is seen 

 protruding from the mouth of the latter. It soon, 

 however, extricates itself from this situation, appa- 

 rently without having suffered the smallest injury. 

 The voracity of the hydra is very great, especially 

 after long fasting ; and it tv^ill then devour a great 

 number of insects, one after another, at one meal, 

 gorging itself till it can hold no more ; its body 

 becoming dilated to an extraordinary size ; and 

 yet the same animal can continue to live for more 

 than four months without any visible supply of 

 food. 



On attentively observing the changes induced 

 upon the food by the action of the stomach of these 

 animals, they appear to consist of a gradual melting 

 down of the softer parts, which are resolved into a 

 kind of jelly ; leaving unaltered only a few frag- 

 ments of the harder and less digestible parts. 

 These changes are accompanied by a kind of 



