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fome by their complicate make, and others by their 
very fimplicity, more incomprehenfible than larger 
and better-known animals. It may in fhort keep 
up our admiration, by obferving how the omnipo- 
tence or tne Creator {hines forth even in creatiires, 
which, like thefe, feem produced to be trampled 
upon, or at belt to be perceived by chance. 
What firft offered itfelf to my obfervations, is 
what diftingnifhes thefe animals from plants, I 
mean progreffive motion, by the help of which 
they can fhift their fpotj the other determi- 
nate motions, by which they are enabled to lay 
hold of their prey ; the means they make ufe of 
to defend themfelves ; their deglutition, digef- 
tion, evacuations, and laftly the propagation of their 
fpecies, &c. What little I have had an opportunity 
to fee of thofe functions, appears to me fufficient 
to place thefe creatures in the clafs of fpontaneous 
animals, rather than in the dark indeterminate lift 
of zoophytes. 
In 
d’attention, offre dans les uns par fa complication, dans les au- 
tres par fa fimplicite, quelque chofe de plus incomprehenfible 
que celle des animaux plus grands et plus connus j enfin a 
foutenir notre admiration en nous faifant obferver combien 
la grandeur de Dieu eclate jufque dans les creatures qui fern- 
blent comme celles-ci deftinees a etre foulees aux pieds, ou a 
n’etre aperciies que par hazard. 
Ce que j’ai du d’abord obferver, e’eft ce qui diflingue ces 
animaux des plantes, comme le mouvement progreffif a l’aide 
duquel ils changent de place, les autres mouvemens deter- 
mines par lefquels ils faifilTent la proye, les moyens qu’ils 
employent pour fe deiendre, la deglutition, la digeftion, la 
dejedtion, la propagation de l’efpece, &c. le peu que j’en ai vu 
m’a paru fuffifant pour ldur affigner une place dans le regne 
animal, et pour les tirer du genre obfeur et indetermine des 
.zoophites. Au 
