104 BAHIA BLANCA 



mud. He adds, " The Indians often find enormous boas, 

 which they call Uji, or water serpents, in the same lethargic 

 state. To reanimate them, they must be irritated or wetted 

 with water.'' 



I will only mention one other animal, a zoophyte (I believe 

 Virgularia Patagonica), a kind of sea-pen. It consists of a 

 thin, straight, fleshy stem, with alternate rows of polypi on 

 each side, and surrounding an elastic stony axis, varying in 

 length from eight inches to two feet The stem at one ex- 

 tremity is truncate, but at the other is terminated by a vermi- 

 form fleshy appendage. The stony axis which gives strength 

 to the stem may be traced at this extremity into a mere vessel 

 filled with granular matter. At low water hundreds of these 

 zoophytes might be seen, projecting like stubble, with the 

 truncate end upwards, a few inches above the surface of the 

 muddy sand. When touched or pulled they suddenly drew 

 themselves in with force, so as nearly or quite to disappear. 

 By this action, the highly elastic axis must be bent at the 

 lower extremity, where it is naturally slightly curved ; and I 

 imagine it is by this elasticity alone that the zoophyte is 

 enabled to rise again through the mud. Each polypus, though 

 closely united to its brethren, has a distinct mouth, body, and 

 tentacula. Of these polypi, in a large specimen, there must be 

 many thousands ; yet we see that they act by one movement : 

 they have also one central axis connected with a system of 

 obscure circulation, and the ova are produced in an organ 

 distinct from the separate individuals.^ Well may one be 

 allowed to ask. What is an individual ? It is always interest- 

 ing to discover the foundation of the strange tales of the 

 old voyagers ; and I have no doubt but that the habits of 



1 The cavities leading from the fleshy compartments of the extremity were filled 

 with a yellow pulpy matter, which, examined under a microscope, presented an 

 extraordinary appearance. The mass consisted of rounded, semi-transparent, irre- 

 gular grains, aggregated together into particles of various sizes. All snch particles, 

 and the separate grains, possessed the power of rapid movement ; generally revolving 

 around different axes, but sometimes progressive. The movement was visible with 

 a very weak power, but even with the highest its cause could not be perceived. It 

 was very different from the circulation of the fluid in the elastic bag, containing the 

 thin extremity of the axis. On other occasions, when dissecting small marine animals 

 beneath the microscope, I have seen particles of pulpy matter, some of large size, as 

 soon as they were disengaged, commence revolving^ I have im^ned, I know not 

 with how much truth, that this granulo-pulpy matter was in process of being con- 

 verted into ova, Certainly in this zoophyte such appeared to be the case. 



