36 



HYDEOZOA. 



generally branched into innumerable arborescent forms, 

 so plant-like in their aspect, that when gathered on the 

 beach, they are not unfrequently confounded by our lady- 

 friends, with sundry vegetable growths of kindred appear- 

 ance, under the name of "sea- weeds;" and sometimes 

 spread by fairy fingers, and laid out in tasteful groups, 

 they seem themselves pathetically to join in the petition so 

 often appended to them by their fair collectors, 



" O call us not weeds, but flowers of the sea !" 



Beautiful, however, as these " sea- weeds " are when 

 thus embalmed, we, for our part, prefer to see them living 

 in their native element, where they present a spectacle of 

 matchless interest, viewed even with an ordinary micro- 

 scope. When thus examined, they are found to be made 

 up of branching tubes, along the sides of which are 

 ranged in close array little cells or cups sometimes many 

 thousands in number. Each cell contains a hungry 

 hydra, with its arms spread out in search of food, ready 

 to seize and drag into its mouth whatever offers in the 

 way of aliment. These Polype-cells are variously disposed 



FlG. 21. FIGURE OF SERTULARIA OPERCULATA. 



in different species, but they all agree in being sessile, 

 that is, closely sitting on the branchlet where they grow. 

 Dispersed among these cells, at certain periods of the 

 year, others are seen of different shape ; these are the 

 seed-cups, one of which is represented in our figure. In 



