LIFE, IN ITS LOWER FORMS. 



and the helpless insect is dragged in ; another thread is 

 brought to bear upon it, and another. Poor thing ! 

 "actum de eo est," it is all up with him ! He is dragged 

 helplessly to the base of the radiating threads, and there, 

 in the midst of their circle, an aperture is gaping, which 

 stretches wider and wider, while the prey is slowly sucked 

 in, until it is quite engulphed within the gelatinous body. 



But, for some time before this, the prey had become 

 quite motionless ; its struggles, though violent at first, had 

 soon entirely ceased, and it was evident that a fatal effect 

 had been produced by the mere contact of those slender 

 threads. 



What is the nature of this subtle venom that resides in 

 a creature apparently so low in the scale of being, so simple 

 in structure, and almost homogeneous in substance ? 

 Worms, and the larvse of insects, that may be wounded, 

 and even chopped into pieces, and yet survive for hours, 

 die suddenly from a touch of these gelatinous threads ! 

 " I have sometimes," says Baker, " forced a worm from a 

 polype the instant it has been seized, at the expense of 

 breaking off the polype's arms, and have always observed 

 it to die very soon afterwards, without one single instance 

 of recovery."* On the other hand, the tiny water-fleas, 

 and other minute Crustacea, frequently escape with im- 

 punity even from the very mouth of the polype ; for they 

 are enclosed in a horny shell, which evidently protects 

 their vital parts from the morbific touch. 



The microscope throws light on the question, and re- 

 veals a most elaborate system of offensive weapons with 

 which these soft and sluggish creatures are provided. 



* History of the Polype, 33. 



