74 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



for such they may be called, sprout from the trans- 

 parent walls of its gelatinous body, which at first have 

 the appearance of simple warts or prominences, but 

 which, in the course of a few hours, reveal themselves 

 to be young Hydrse growing from the sides of the pa- 

 rent animal (PL I. fig. 4,^) ; a cavity soon appears in 

 their transparent substance, tentacles are seen like 

 slender filaments to issue from the neighbourhood of 

 the mouth, which, as they elongate, rapidly begin to 

 fish for food in the surrounding water, and the new 

 animal appears in all respects as perfect as the original 

 being from which it sprung ; nay, sometimes two or 

 three young Hydrse may be seen to sprout at once 

 from the same parent, which in their turn give birth 

 to others by a similar proceeding. After the deve- 

 lopment of the bud has been apparently completed, 

 the parent and progeny are for two or three days ad- 

 herent to each other, but at length they separate and 

 become quite independent individuals. 



It will easily be understood how, by a repetition of 

 this process, numerous colonies may be developed in 

 the course of a few months from a single individual, 

 and accordingly we might suppose that none of Na- 

 ture's products would be more common than the 

 Trumpet-polyp ; still it is not so. In fact, it is of very 

 rare occurrence except under circumstances extremely 

 favourable to its development. 



There is still another way in which these Hydras 

 may be multiplied, which is even more plant-like than 

 the last. We all know that many vegetables are ca- 

 pable of propagation by means of what the gardeners 

 call "suckers" and "runners;" offshoots, which, 



