68 VIEWS OF THE MICROSCOPIC WORLD. 



by the polype moves so rapidly as to prevent the assailant from instantly secur- 

 ing his victim ; in such a case the latter is seen to sink into the water after its 

 attack, and remain to all appearance lifeless for the space of a few seconds, before 

 it regains its usual vigor. Naturalists have consequently been led to suppose 

 that the polype possesses the power of paralyzing its prey by weak electric shocks, 

 in the manner of the torpedo and the electric eel. In this way only can they 

 account for the fact, that such slender organs as the arms of the polype are 

 able to secure animals comparatively so large and powerful, when striving with 

 then* utmost power to escape from the fatal coils in which they are entwined. 

 Dr. Mantell once beheld a lively polype seize two large worms at the same 

 instant, when its extended arms were so attenuated that they were scarcely visi- 

 ble without the aid of a lens ; and yet the worms, though struggling desperately 

 for their lives, were unable to burst from the slender bonds that encircled them, 

 and in an instant lost all power of motion : the same effect is produced upon 

 the Water-flea, an extremely vivacious little creature, when struck by the feelers 

 of the polype. The power exerted by the arms is considered to be electric in 

 its nature, inasmuch as the polype has never been found to possess a sting or 

 destructive weapon of any kind. 



The stomach of the polype consists of the whole internal cavity of the crea- 

 ture, and when its prey has been seized and devoured, the body and feelers are 

 no longer extended, but contract, as shown in figures 99 and 100, where a, figure 

 99, represents a polype partially contracted, and figure 100 one entirely so. 

 While the process of digestion is advancing, the polype is very sluggish, and the 

 whole nutritive fluid is disseminated throughout the internal surface, both of the 

 body and the feelers, imparting to them a colored appearance ; thus, when a 

 red worm has been devoured, the hue of the prey tinges the entire surface of 

 the polype. The polype multiplies by buds and shoots, which spring out of the 

 trunk of the parent, as shown in figure 99. If it is kept in a vessel of water, 

 and well provided with food, two or three shoots are seen, when the weather 

 is warm, growing out of its body at the same time, and from these branches 

 while yet attached to the parent trunk, other sprouts and offsets push 

 vigorously forth. When a young polype is about to come into existence, that 

 part of the body from which it will grow swells beyond its natural size, as shown 

 at a, figure 97. This protuberance continues gradually to increase, and when a 

 sufficient enlargement is attained the head of the young polype appears, and its 

 arms are protruded, and by the aid of the latter it now supplies itself with food, 

 in the manner of the parent, as seen at c in the same figure. Until nearly the 

 time when it separates from its parent, the young polype possesses an internal 

 communication with the latter, and also a common sensation ; for if one is dis- 

 turbed and contracts the other directly does the same. 



The polype is endowed with the wonderful property of reproducing any organs 

 of which it has been deprived ; for its body, however mutilated, soon supplies its 

 deficient members, and the creature becomes once more a perfect and complete 

 animal. If a polype is divided across into two parts, the upper portion, contain- 



