152 WESTERN SERIES OF READERS. 



It is very interesting to notice how closely some 

 animal forms resemble the vegetable growths 

 which are found near them. We see it on the 

 land, sometimes, as in the case of the " walking- 

 sticks," which look so much like the twigs of the 

 trees on which they live. But more examples are 

 found in the sea. 



The most beautiful of our Pacific Hydroids 

 for that is the name of these animals that resem- 

 ble plants is the delicate Feather-moss, a picture 

 of which is shown in the engraving. It grows in 

 tufts attached to the rock, and pieces are often 

 torn off by storms and thrown up on the beach 

 with the sea-mosses. This feather-moss is often 

 dried and used with other mosses in making 

 wreaths and pretty sea-pictures. 



But if you examine it carefully with a micro- 

 iscope, you will see that the feather is only a 

 framework, and that in its edges are hundreds of 

 tiny cups. Each of these cups once contained a 

 little animal, called a polyp, with arms and mouth 

 somewhat like those of a sea-anemone. 



All of these little polyps are connected, and to- 

 gether they secrete the horny material which 

 takes the form of a feather. Old polyps may die 

 jnear the bottom and new ones grow near the tips. 



If you watch carefully, you may find several 



