38 Life and Immortality. 



presence in the skin of the tentacles and body of what 

 are called lasso-cells, or nettling-organs, which are minute, 

 transparent cells, so small that two hundred of the largest 

 would occupy but the distance of an inch, each being armed 

 with a long barbed thread coiled up within its walls. This 

 delicate thread, which is often from twenty to forty times the 

 length of the cell, lies bathed in a poisonous fluid, and only 

 waits for the cell-walls to burst, which they do when the 

 Hydra touches an animal swimming near it, when thousands 

 of these little barbed cords dart into the victim, quickly 

 paralyzing it and rendering it an easy prey to its captor. 

 All Ccelenterates, such as jelly-fishes and coral polyps, pos- 

 sess these nettl ing-organs. 



Thus we see where the Hydra's strength lies. He has no 

 need to struggle, for his victim, penetrated by a multitude of 

 darts, and made powerless by the poison instilled, becomes 

 as manageable as an equal bulk of inert matter. It behooves 

 the little creature to take things quietly, for a cell once burst 

 cannot be used again, and he is therefore compelled to wait 

 until a new one is grown to take the place of the one that 

 has become exhausted. So he patiently bides his time till 

 his victim is half-conquered, when he draws him gently into 

 his body. He lives and catches his food, as must be appar- 

 ent, without the necessity of moving very far from the place 

 where he had his birth. 



All the summer through the Hydra puts out buds from its 

 side, which, when their tentacles have grown, drop from the 

 parent-body, and settle down in life for themselves. But 

 when winter comes, and before all life has become extinct, an 

 egg appears near the base of the tubes of those that are living, 

 and these eggs lie dormant till the next spring, when they 

 are hatched, and a new generation of Hydras is produced. 

 Budding, which is but a process of natural self-division, is 

 carried on to a large extent, more individuals being pro- 

 duced in this way than from eggs. These buds are at first 

 a simple bulging out of the body-walls, the bud enveloping 



