THE POLYPUS, 
359 
pin ts of an inch long ; and when gathered up into their 
usual form, not above a third even of those dimensions. 
It was upon these minute animals that the power of dissec- 
tion was first tried in multiplying their numbers. Thev had 
been long considered as little worthy the attention of ob- 
servers, and were consigned to that neglect in which thou- 
sands of minute species of insects remain to this very day. 
It is true, indeed, that Reaumur observed, classed, and named 
them. By contemplating their motions, he was enabled 
distinctly to pronounce on their being of the animal, and 
not of the vegetable kingdom; and he called them polypi, 
from their great resemblance to those larger ones that were 
found in the ocean. Still, however, their properties were 
neglected, and their history unknown. 
Mr. Trembley was the person to whom we owe the first 
discovery of the amazing properties and powers of this little 
vivacious creature: lie divided this class of animals into 
four different kinds ; into those inclining to green, those of a 
brownish cast, those of flesh colour, and those which lie 
calls the polype tie panche. The difference of structure in 
these, as also of colour are observable enough ; but the 
manner of their subsisting, of seizing their prey, and of their 
propagation, is pretty nearly the same in ail. 
Whoever has looked with care into the bottom of a wet 
ditch, when the water is stagnant, and the sun has been pow- 
erful, may remember to have seen many little transparent 
lumps of jel ly, about the size of a pea, and flatted on one 
side ; such also as have examined the under side of the broad 
leafed weeds that grow on the surface of the water, must have 
observed them studded with a number of these li ttle jel ly-like 
substances, which were probably then disregarded, because 
theirnature and history was unknown. Theseliitlesubstances, 
however, were no other than living polypi gathered up into a 
fptiescent state, and seemingly inanimate, because either un- 
disturbed, or not excited by the calls of appetite to action. 
When they are seen exerting themselves, they put on a very 
different appearance from that when at rest ; to conceive a 
just idea of their figure, we may suppose the finger of a glove 
Cut off at the bottom ; we may suppose also several threads 
or horns planted round the edge like a fringe. The hollow of 
this finger will give us an idea of the stomach of the animal; 
die threads issuing forth from the edges may be considered as 
fhe arms or feelers, with which it hunts for its prey. The 
a ntmal, at its greatest extent, is seldom seen above an inch 
ar >d a half long, but it is much shorter when it is contracted 
a nd at rest ; it is furnished neither with muscles nor rings, and 
