ANTHOZOA. 



49 



admiration. Slowly the unsightly fabric swells, as 

 though by imbibing the water in which it is immersed, 

 and as it dilates to a larger and still larger size, assumes a 

 transparency that it did not possess before. When fully 

 expanded, little pits or cells appear upon its surface, and 

 from each of these there issues forth a living flower, for 



FlG. 32. ALCYON. 



such it seems, which gradually expanding till it has at- 

 tained its full development, begins to fish for prey in the 

 surrounding water by means of the petal-like tentacles 

 placed around its mouth. The food thus obtained, 

 having been conveyed into the stomach of the Polype 

 that caught it, and digested there, is absorbed into the 



