372 



EVENINGS AT THE MIGBOSCOPE. 



eight ; these in like manner increase progressively to 

 sixteen, thirty-two, and sixty-four. It now possesses a 

 close resemblance to the Hydra of our ditches, only 

 having more tentacles ; and, like it, the Medusa-larva 

 buds forth from its sides young Hydra-like polypes, 

 which take the form of their immediate parent, fall 

 off, attach themselves, bud forth more, and so on. All 

 these catch living prey with their tentacles, swallow 

 them with their mouths, and digest them with their 

 stomachs, exactly like real polypes, and thus produce 

 generation after generation of similar beings. 



Tears may pass in this stage, during which num- 

 berless polypes are formed. At length the original 

 stock, or any one of its descendants, takes on an im- 

 portant change. Its body lengthens, and becomes cut 

 as it were into a number of rings, as if tied tightly 

 round with thread, or like the body of an Annelid. 



TtmKIS AND ITS YOUNG. 



These segments become increasingly distinct, until at 

 length each is seen to be a shallow cxip, notched at its 

 margin, and sitting in the concavity of the one next 



