58 EAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



have inclined to the same view, which is maintained 

 even at the present day by some eminent naturalists. 

 Experience and observation appear to us to be 

 opposed to these theories ; for not only do a large 

 number of the inferior animals possess sensorial 

 organs by which they must consequently perceive 

 sensations, but these organs are even in some cases 

 much more multiplied than in Mammals or Birds. 

 Thus for instance several of them realise the fable of 

 Argus, or the strange conception of Fourier in 

 relation to the fifth member which is to complete 

 the human being, when the globe will be covered 

 with phalansteries. Certain Star-fishes have a well 

 characterised eye at the extremity of each of their 

 rays, while the Nemertes and the Planarias are often 

 provided on the lower and upper surface of their 

 heads with fifty or sixty, and sometimes even a 

 larger number of -distinct eyes. Ehrenberg has 

 made known to us a small Annelid, which is furnished 

 with two eyes in its head, and two others at the ex- 

 tremity of its tail ; and I found both in our seas of 

 Brittany and during my stay in Sicily, three totally 

 distinct species, presenting the same peculiarity. 

 Yet the tufts of Corallina at Favignana and Milazzo 

 nourished thousands of little worms, which are even 

 more remarkable in this respect. These worms, which 

 I have named Poly ophthalmia, and to which I shall 

 have occasion presently to revert, are provided in 

 front with three double or triple eyes, while a series 

 of the same organs are placed along the entire length 

 of the body, passing from the head to the tail.* 

 * See Chapter VIII. on Guettary. 



