MISCELLANEOUS. 243 



actively employed ejecting the water from its inside, and 

 while resembling a number of infinitely little volcanoes, 

 it is in fact nothing but a small bit of living jelly. 



" If one branch of this plant-like family be examined 

 with a moderately powerful lens, it will be seen to consist 

 of a horny stem, each branch being studded with a double 

 row of little cells, open at the mouth, which is much 

 smaller than the base. If the same be placed in clear 

 sea-water and still watched through the lens, from each 

 cell will be seen to protrude a tiny polyp " (similar to 

 that shown on p. 197), " whose star-like head is all that 

 is visible externally." * The small branch on the right 

 of our cut is about the average size of such as may very 

 frequently be found on the shell of an escalop ; but an 

 East Indian specimen, three feet long, is said to have 

 been so large that it contained 800 millions of living 

 polyps, about equal to three-fifths of the population of 

 the whole earth. On the above-mentioned branch there 

 might have been upwards of three thousand of these 

 living creatures which had built their own houses in a 

 plant-like fashion. 



Patient examination of the most common objects for 

 the microscope will disclose many beautiful instances of 

 the wonderful care which an All-wise Providence has ever 

 exercised over the smallest of His creatures, and many 

 useful conclusions thereby suggest themselves to a devout 

 mind. In the insect-world, which will afford, perhaps, 

 some of the most remarkable instances of this nature, one 

 fact is very observable the method employed by some 

 of the great family for the protection of their young. 

 "Men," says Professor Kennie "men, indeed, proceed 

 by means of reasoning and experiment to the discovery 

 of such materials as are best fitted for protecting their 

 * Wood's " Common Objects of the Sea -shore," 



