POLYPES. 171 



element. It is to be observed that these inhabit 

 a common house, from which they cannot sepa- 

 rate themselves ; their sole character is that of 

 being attached to an animated mass, so that each 

 individual partakes of the life common to the 

 whole, and also of a separate life, independent 

 of that of the others. Yet the nutriment that 

 one of these individuals takes, extends its influ- 

 ence to parts the most distant from the place it 

 occupies. 



Having made these general remarks, I shall 

 next give a history of some of the best known 

 and most interesting species. 



1. The common polypes of stagnant waters, 

 belonging to the first Order, have met with an 

 admirable historian in M. Trembley, and what 

 I have to communicate with respect to them will 

 be chiefly derived from him. With regard to 

 their reproduction, it is by germs and cuttings. 

 The former issue gradually from the body of the 

 parent polype, as the trunk of a tree sends forth 

 a branch. The bud that forms the commence- 

 ment of a young one, is a continuation of her 

 skin, and its stomach of her stomach. When 

 she takes her food, the bodies of her young are 

 seen also to inflate themselves as if they had 

 taken it with their own mouths, and the food may 

 be seen passing from one to the other. After 

 they have grown thus as branches for some time, 

 and even have pushed forth germes themselves, 



