108 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



what I mean. You know what a polypus is, I 

 presume ? 



L. O yes ; I have many times cut them in 

 pieces and the separate parts became distinct 

 and whole animals. I have besides seen them 

 growing out from one another, somewhat like 

 the branches of a tree. 



E. That class of animals rank the lowest, as 

 might be expected, in the Zoological scale. 

 Their organs are veiy simple, and of course, so 

 are the functions or offices of these organs. 

 They possess sensation, and can move about, 

 but their only use is seemingly to imbibe nour- 

 ishment. A great many polypi are generally 

 together in one body, and that accounts for the 

 separate bodies which each developes for itself 

 when cut off from the others. They resemble 

 plants in that particular ; you cannot find a sin- 

 gle plant or a single polypus. 



L. What ! is not the rose growing in that pot 

 a single rose ? 



L. On the contrary, it consists of a multitude 

 of them ; there are thousands of life germs scat- 

 tered through every part that, require but a lit- 

 tle irritation to excite them and produce an active 

 state of existence. Cut off a slip of your rose 



