POL 
very ftrong, being capable of maintaining tjieir 
Nations atVae feet of the rocks in the moft boiile- 
rous and rapid feas. 
The fiefh of thefe animals is efteemed excellent 
food; and fome have been caught that weighed 
near twenty-eight pounds, though they are gene- 
rally no more than fix or feven each. The under 
jaw is longer than the upper; the head and body 
rife pretty high; and the fide-line is incurvated, 
rifing towards the middle of the back, then fink- 
ing, and running ftraight to the tail, which is 
broad and brownifli. The firft dorfal fin has ele - 
ven rays; the middle nineteen; and the lafl: fix- 
teen. The colour of the back is dullcy, in fome 
inclining to green ; the fides underneath the lateral 
line are marked with yellow ftreaks; the belly is 
white; and die tail is fiightly forked. 
POLLARD. A provincial appellation for 
the young of the cole-fifh, or raw-pollack. 
POLPOCH. A fpecies of ferpent, faid to be 
found in Jucatan, a country bordering on New 
Spain; which, if we may credit report, can bite 
with it's mouth, and fting with it's tail. 
POLYGLOTTA AVIS. A bird defcribed 
by Nieremberg, about the fize of the European 
fi:arling; which that author informs us he faw, 
and heard fing with all poffible variety of modu- 
lations. The back is brown ; the breaft and belly 
are white; the neck and tail are variegated with 
fpots and fi:reaks of v/hite; and the head is adorned 
with a ftreak of white reprefenting a filver crown. 
The Spaniards of the new world mightily ad- 
mire this bird, whofe melody is faid to be infi- 
nitely fuperior to that of all others. They ufu- 
ally cage it, and feed it with feeds, fruits, bread, 
or fle(h. It feems much attached to warm lati- 
tudes; but is capable of enduring the more tem- 
perate ones without injurv. 
FOLYGLOTTOS. 'in the Linna^an fyftem, 
alljeciesof the turdus. See Mock-Bsrd. 
POLYNEMUS, the Finger-fiih. A genus of 
abdominales : the charafteriftics of v/hich are ; that 
the head is comprelTed and fquamofe; that the 
bealc is very obtufe and prominent; that the gills 
confifi: of five or feven rays; and that there are fe- 
verai diftimSl procelTes or appendages placed by 
the pectoral fins. There are three fpecies, one of 
which has been denominated the Faradife fiili by 
Edwards. 
POLYPUS, OR POLYPE. In the Linnsan 
fyftem, a fpecies of infeift belonging to the genus 
of hydraj in the clafs of worms, and order of zoo- 
phytes. 
The ancients gave the nam.e Sea-Polype to the 
flar-fifli or fea-nettles, becaufe of the great num- 
ber of feelers or feet which they all pofiefs, and 
with which they have a flow progrefTive motion. 
But the moderns have applied the appellation of 
Polypi to certain reptik's which live in frefh-wa- 
ter, by no means fo large or obfervahle: thefe are 
found at the bottom.s of v/et ditches, or attached 
to the under furfaces of fuch broad-leafed plants 
as grov/ and fwim on the furface of the waters. 
However, the fame difference holds between thefe 
and the Sea-Polypi, as is perceptible between all 
the produ£i:ions of the land and the ocean. The 
m.arine vegetables and animals grow to a mon- 
flrous fize: the eel, die pike, or the bream, of 
frefh-waters, is but fmall ; but in the fea, they 
grov/ to an enormous magnitude. The herbs of 
the field are at moft but a few feet high; thofe of 
the ocean often ftioot forth ftalks of a hundred. 
Vol. IL 
POL 
This difference likewife obtains between the Po- 
lypi of both elements: thofe of the fea are found 
from two to four feet in length ; and Pliny has de- 
fcribed one, the arms of which were no lefs than 
thirty feet long. But thofe of frefh-waters ar6 
comparatively minute: at their utmoft fize, they 
feldom exceed three quarters of an inch in length i 
and, when gathered up in their ufual form, do 
not appear above one-third of thofe dimenfions. 
On thefe minute animals the power of dilTeftiofl 
was firft tried in multiplying their numbers. 
They had been long confidered as unworthy the 
attention of obfervers, and were configned to that 
negleift in v/hich thoufands of minute fpecies of 
infefls remain to this day. It is true, indeed, that 
Reaumur obferved, claflfed, and named them : by 
contemplating their motions, he was enabled dif- 
tinftly to pronounce on their belonging to the 
animal, and not to the vegetable kingdom; and 
he called them Polypi, from their great refem- 
blance to thofe larger ones which were found in the 
ocean. Still, however, their properties were ne- 
gleded, and the moft important part of their hif- 
tory was unknown. 
The firft perfon to whom we are indebted for at 
difcovery of the amazing powers and properties of 
this little vivacious creature, was Mr. Tremble.y. 
He divided this clafs of animals into four kinds j 
namely, thofe inclining to green, thofe of a brown-, 
ifli caft, thofe of a fiefh colour, and thofe which 
he calls the Polype de Panache. The difference 
of ftrufturc in thefe, as well as of colour, are fuf- 
ficiently perceptible; but the manner of their 
fubfifting, of feizing their prey, and of their pro- 
pagation, is pretty nearly the fame in all. 
Whoever has had the curiofity to look into the 
bottom of a wet ditch when the water has been 
ftagnant, and the efi?ed of the fun powerful, mufl: 
have obferved many little tranfparent lumps of 
jelly, each about the fize of a pea, and flatted on 
one fide. Such alfo who have examined the under 
fides of the broad-leafed weeds that grow on the 
furface of the water, muft have perceived them 
to be ftudded with a number of thefe little jelly- 
like fubftances, which were probably then difre- 
garded, becaufe their nature and hiftory were un- 
known: thefe fmall fubftances, hov/ever, were 
no other than living Polypi, gathered up into a 
quiefcent ftate, and feemingly inanimate, becaufe 
not excited to adlion by the calls of appetite, nor 
difturbed by their enemies. When they are feen 
to exert themfelves, they aflTume a very different 
appearance from that when at reft. In order to 
form a juft idea of their figure, we may fuppofe 
the finger of a glove cut at the bottom; and alfo 
feveral threads or horns planted round the edge, 
after the manner of a fringe. The hollow of this 
finger will convey to us fome idea of the crea- 
ture's ftomach ; and the threads ifiuing forth from 
the edges may be confidered as the arms or feel- 
ers, with which it hunts for it's prey. The animal^ 
when at it's greateft extent, is feldom above one 
inch and a half long; but it is confiderably fliorter 
when contrafted, and at reft: it is neither furniflied 
withmufcles nor rings; and it's manner of length- 
ening and contrafting itfelf rather refembles that 
of the fnail than the worm or any other infe6t„ 
The Polypus contrafts itfelf more or lefs in pro- 
pornon as it is touched, or as the water in which 
it lives is agitated. W armth animates, and cold be- 
numibs it ; but a degree of cold approaching to 
congelation is neceflliry to reduce it to perfeft in- 
3 ^ aftivitv- 
