I 
THE POLYPUS. 26 1 
taken in. If the surface of the body of this little creature 
be examined with a microscope, it will be found studded 
with a number of warts, as also the arms, especially when 
they are contracted ; and these tubercles, as we shall pre- 
sently see, answer a very important purpose. 
If we examine their way of living, we shall find these in- 
sects chiefly subsisting upon others much less than them- 
selves; particularly a kind of millepedes that live in the 
water, and a very small red worm, which they seize with great 
avidity. In short, no insect whatsoever, less than themselves, 
seems to come amiss to them ; their arms, as was observed 
above, serve them as a net would a fisherman, or perhaps, 
more exactly speaking, as a lime-twig does a fowler. When- 
ever their prey is perceived, which the animal effects by its 
feeling, it is sufficient to touch the object it would seize 
upon, and it is fastened without a power of escaping. The 
instant one of this insect’s long arms is laid upon a mille- 
pede, the little insect sticks without a possibility of retreat- 
ing. The greater the distance at which it is touched, the 
greater is the ease with which the polybus brings the prey 
to its mouth. If the little object be near, though irretriev- 
ably caught, it is not without great difficulty that it can 
be brought to the mouth and swallowed. When the poly- 
bus is unsupplied with prey, it testifies its hunger by open- 
ing its mouth ; the aperture, however, is so small, that it 
cannot be easily perceived ; but when, with any of its lotto - 
arms, it has seized upon its prey, it then opens its mouth 
distinctly enough, and this opening is always in proportion 
to the size of the animal which it would swallow ; the lips 
dilate insensibly by small degrees, and adjust themselves 
precisely to the figure of their prey. Mr. Trembley, who 
took a pleasure in feeding this useless brood, found that 
they could devour aliments of every kind, fish and flesh, as 
well as insects; but he owns they did not thrive so well 
upon beef and veal, as upon the little worms of their own 
providing. When he gave one of these famished reptiles 
any substance which was improper to serve for aliment, at 
first it seized the prey with avidity, but after keeping it for 
some time entangled near the mouth, let it drop again with 
distinguished nicety. 
When several polypi happen to fall upon the same worm, 
they dispute their common prey with each other. Two of 
them are often seen seizing the same worm at different ends, 
and dragging it in opposite directions with great force. It 
often happens, that while one isswallowing its respective end, 
the other is also employed in the same manner, and thus they 
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