LECTURE m 197 



course of a very few days. If cut into three 

 pieces, the middle portion will produce both the 

 head and tail ; and in short, Polypes may be cut 

 in all directions, and will still reproduce the defi- 

 cient organs. The natural mode of propagation 

 in this animal, is by shoots or offsets, in the man- 

 ner of a plant; one or more branches or shoots 

 proceeding from the parent stem, and dropping off 

 when complete; and it frequently happens that 

 these young branches will produce other branches 

 before they themselves drop off from the parent, 

 so that a polype may be found with several of its 

 descendants still adhering to the original stock or 

 stem ; thus constituting a real genealogical tree : 

 but the Polype also, during the autumnal season, 

 deposits eggs, which evolve themselves afterwards 

 into distinct animals, and thus it possesses two 

 modes of multiplication. It appears a paradoxical 

 circumstance that a Polype should be able to 

 swallow a worm three or four times as large as 

 itself, which is frequently observed to be the case ; 

 but it must be considered that the body of the ani- 

 mal is extremely extensile ; and that it possesses 

 the power of stretching according to the size of the 

 substance which it swallows. It seizes its prey 



