VOL. XLII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 623 



the brain formed one cavity, where the medulla oblongata and cerebellum, but 

 incredibly small, were seen. No vestiges appeared of the nates, testes, cerebri 

 vulva ; nor of the protuberantias cerebelli ; nor of the medulla spinalis. The 

 contained fluid weighed dlb. 1 1 oz. While the child lived, the vital and na- 

 tural actions were performed, but it seemed incapable of any animal action. 

 It was constantly quiet and drowsy, without crying, was deaf, and died with- 

 out any convulsion or apparent struggle. 



Some Papers lately read before the Royal Society concerning the Fresh-water 

 Polypus ; an Insect which has this surprising Property, that being cut into 

 several Pieces, each Piece becomes a perfoct Animal, as complete as that of 

 which it was originally only a Part. Collected and published by Cromwell 

 Mortimer, M.D. i^c. Sec.R.S. N°467, p. 281. 



[The history of the Polype (which is not an insect, but an animal of the 

 zoophyte tribe), is now so well known to all naturalists, that it cannot be 

 thought necessary to repeat all that has been said of it in the Philos. Trans. It 

 will be sufficient to give Mr. Trembley's paper only ; he being (after Leuwen- 

 hoek) the first observer of the animal.] 



Observations and Experiments on the Fresh-water Polypus, by M. Trembley,* 

 at the Hague. Translated from the French, by P. H. Z. F. R. S. N° 467, 

 p. 283. 



The animal in question is an aquatic insect, and was mentioned in the Philos. 

 Trans, for the year 1703, N° 263, and N° 288, 



It is represented in fig. 10, pi. 14, as sticking to a twig. Its body ab, which 

 is pretty slender, has on its anterior extremity a, several horns AC, which serve 

 it instead of legs and aruis, and which are yet slenderer than the body. The 

 mouth of the polypus is in that anterior extremity ; it opens into the stomach, 

 which takes up the whole length of the body ab. This whole body forms but 

 one pipe; a sort of gut, which can be opened at both ends. 



The length of the body of a polypus varies according to its different species, 

 and according to many other circumstances, to be mentioned hereafter. 



M. Trembley knows 2 species, of which he has seen some individuals extend 

 their bodies to the length of an inch and a half; but this is uncommon. Few 

 are generally found above 9 or 10 lines long; and even these are of the larger 



* M. Trembley, an ingenious observer at Geneva, is eminent for his discover}' of the green and 

 long-armed polypus, with some other species, of which he first observed the extraordinary power of 

 reproduction by cuttings, and of which he published the natural history, illustrated by elegant plates. 



