LECTURE I. 19 



drop off from the body of the parent animal, and 

 attach themselves to any convenient substance: it 

 often happens that a Polype shall be loaded, not 

 only with a primary but a secondary offspring, 

 the vounc^ animals themselves, before their se- 

 paration from the parent, producing others in a 

 similar manner ; so that the whole may be com- 

 pared to a kind of genealogical tree. These crea- 

 tures are highly voracious, and possessing, as be- 

 fore observed, a very high degree of contractile 

 and extensile power, are capable of swallowing 

 other animals of far larger si^^e than themselves; 

 the tubular body of the Polype enlarging in order 

 to receive them. The act of seizing their prey is 

 very sudden and violent, but their mode of swal- 

 lowing or absorbing it is very gradual. When a 

 Polype is cut into two or three pieces, each piece, 

 in the space of a few days, especially in warm 

 weather, becomes a perfectly complete animal, by 

 the reproduction of every part deficient. Thus, if 

 a Polype be cut into three pieces, the office of the 

 head or upper part is to produce a new extremity 

 or tail, with its sphincter-muscle j of the tail part 

 to produce a new head and arms ; and of the 

 middle part to produce both extremes. It there- 



