PLANT-ANIMALS, OR ZOOPHYTES. 167 



this rudimentary shoot is at first apparently homo- 

 geneous, but very shortly the separation between the 

 sheath and the interior pulp begins to be defined, 

 and is made hourly more apparent by the pulp 

 retreating inwards, becoming darker, and more con- 

 centrated. That portion of it in the bulbous top of 

 the shoot goes on to further condensation and de- 

 velopment ; and as it enlarges, so in proportion does 

 the horny cuticle that covers it expand apace, until 

 it has gradually evolved into one or two cells, which 

 are still closed on all sides. The dark body of the 

 polype is apparent through the thin and transparent 

 wall, and from its superior disk there are now to be 

 seen some minute tubercles or knobs protruding, 

 which, becoming, insensibly but steadily, more 

 elongated, constitute the tentacles of the polype, 

 now nearly ready for a more active life. By an 

 extension of development, or by a process of absorp- 

 tion, not well understood, the top of the cell is at 

 length opened, the polype displays its organs abroad, 

 and begins the capture of its prey, for, unlike higher 

 organisms, it is, at this the period of its birth, as 

 large and as perfect as it ever is at any subsequent 

 period, the walls of the cell having become indurated 

 and unyielding, and setting a limit to any further 

 increase in bulk. The growth being thus hindered 

 in that direction, the pulp, incessantly increased by 

 new supplies of nutriment from the polype, is con- 



