THE BAY OF BISCAY. 235 



nourishment taken by each polype tends to the direct 

 support of the entire community. This animal is 

 multiplied in three different ways. 



From the fleshy polypary of which we have 

 spoken are given off buds, which increase and become 

 organised in the same manner as those of the Hydra, 

 but without ever leaving the place of their birth. 

 They therefore comport themselves precisely in the 

 same manner as the branches of a tree. 



In the thick substance of this same polypary are 

 developed eggs properly so called, and these eggs, 

 when they are ejected from the body within which 

 they took their origin, comport themselves in the 

 same manner as the seed, which is developed and 

 propagates the species after separation from the 

 parent plant. 



Finally, a certain number of individuals are des- 

 tined to generate deciduous buds or true bulbils, the 

 propagation of their species being the only function 

 which they have to fulfil ; they have neither arms nor 

 mouths, and are nourished by their neighbours. 

 These ovoid buds are detached from the parent stock 

 at certain epochs, and are carried away by currents. 

 Many no doubt perish, but those which encounter 

 a favourable locality become fixed, and, in a few 

 days, after undergoing elongation, give birth to a 

 polype which is at first isolated, but afterwards be- 

 comes in its turn the original stock of a new colony. 



We see, therefore, that there is not so great a dif- 

 ference between the seed and the vegetable bud, or 

 between the egg and the animal bud, as we might at 

 first have been led to suppose. In these two king- 

 doms of nature the bulbil occupies an intermediate 



