CHAPTER IV. 



ZOOPHYTES. 



cc Elongated like worms they writhed and shrunk 

 Their tortuous bodies to grotesque dimensions ; 

 Compress'd like wedges, radiated like stars, 

 Branching like sea-weed, whirl'd in dazzling rings, 

 Subtle and variable as flickering flames, 

 Sight could not trace their evanescent changes, 

 Nor comprehend their motions, till minute 

 And curious observation caught the clue 

 To this live labyrinth where every one 

 By instinct taught, perform'd its little task ; 

 To build its dwelling and its sepulchre, 

 From its own essence exquisitely raodell'd ; 

 There breed and die, and leave a progeny, 

 Still multiplied beyond the reach of numbers." 



MONTGOMERY. 



FEW who have read the records of travels made 

 by intelligent naturalists in the warmer latitudes 

 of the world, are quite unacquainted with the 

 nature and labours of zoophytes. We read of tree- 

 like fabrics, interweaving their branches, and pre- 

 senting the exact image of a stony forest far down 

 in the depths where the fan-coral waves in the 

 clear blue sea ; and isles and even continents are 

 gradually formed by the united labours of myriads 

 of tiny architects. There the coral rock or reef 

 rises to the surface of the waters, till the sea throws 

 up its mud and sand, and forms a level; or till 

 some volcanic action brings it up to light and to 

 man ; and the island of the ocean is clothed with 

 verdure and beauty, and the succulent .plant, whose 

 seeds were borne thither by ocean winds, prepares 



