54 - CLASSIFICATION AND CREATJON. 
stinct of affection in a creature of so low an 
organization, and I again separated it from the 
eggs, and placed them at a greater distance, 
when the same action was repeated. On trying 
the experiment a third time, the bundle of eggs 
had become loosened, and a few of them dropped 
off singly into the water. The efforts which the 
animal then made to recover the missing ones, 
winding itself round and round them, but failing 
to bring them into the fold with the rest, because 
they were too small and evaded all efforts to 
secure them when once parted from the first 
little compact mass, convinced me that there was 
a definite purpose in its attempts, and that even 
a being so low in the scale of animal existence 
has some dim consciousness of a relation to its 
offspring. | 
I afterwards unwound the mass of eggs, which, 
when coiled up as I first saw it, made a roll of 
white substance about the size of a coffee-bean, 
and found that it consisted of a string of eggs, 
measuring more than twelve feet in length, the 
eges being held together by some gelatinous 
substance that cemented them and prevented 
them from falling apart. Cutting this string 
across; and placing a small section under the 
microscope, I counted on one surface of such a 
cut from seventy to seventy-five eggs; and, esti- 
mating the entire number of eggs according to 
