240 ZOOPHYTES. 



side of every branch, or in some species on botli 

 sides, we see a number of little horny cups, some 

 close to the branch, others raised on stalks, and 

 constituting, it may be, some hundreds or even 

 thousands of cells. If our specimen is fresh and 

 living, we may see, at the opening of these cups, 

 the tentacles of the active polypes, arranged like 

 rays around the centre, looking like so many 

 daisies or other rayed blossoms, and, in fact, 

 forming so many mouths and stomachs to feed one 

 common body, placed within the horny spray, and 

 each retiring, if alarmed, within its own -cell. 

 Every little thread-like branch, and every stem, 

 is hollow; and the pink fleshy substance of the 

 zoophyte, like a mere thread, may be seen filling 

 up every part, and this is the living portion to 

 which so many mouths are furnishing the needful 

 food, when moving their active feelers about in 

 the water, they catch the living prey which every 

 drop of ocean contains. 



If we gather up our specimen in spring-time 

 we may in some species, easily, with the naked 

 eye, discover a number of clear little vesicles, which 

 look like seed-vessels ; and are quite distinct from 

 the cells in which the polypes reside. These con- 

 tain the germ of the polypes, and from these pro- 

 ceed new structures; each horny fabric originating 

 in a single polype. When viewed beneath a micro- 

 scope, even these minute objects are found to be 

 most beautifully varied ; each species having vesi- 

 cles of a form peculiar to itself. Thus in one 

 common coralline we find them ovate or pear- 

 shaped ; in another they resemble an oblong pouch, 

 marked with numerous and crested ribs. One 

 species has vesicles reminding us of a swollen pod, 



