614 
FRESH-WATER POLYPE. 
respective end, the other is employed in the same 
mannej, and thus they continue to swallow, each 
his part, till their two mouths meet together. They 
then rest for some time in this situation, till the 
worm breaks between them, and each goes off 
with his share. It is not worms alone which afford 
nourishment to these aquatic curiosities, but all the 
animalculae that are manageable are devoured when 
they come within their grasp. 
These animals are propagated in a very singular 
manner. If one of them be carefully examined in 
the summer, when in full vigour, a number of small 
tubercles will, after some time, be perceived on the 
sides, which become larger and larger every day, 
till at length what appeared to be at first a small 
excrescence becomes a complete animal, resembling 
in every respect the parent, from whose sides it was 
produced. Thus the original polype, from a simple 
stalk, is changed into a many-headed hydra, re- 
sembling a tree in miniature with all its flourishing 
branches. But this singular property does not 
cease here ; for the young themselves, after a while, 
produce a new series from their sides ; bud like 
the parent, and little ones proceed from them in 
the same manner as they formerly were brought 
forth. Several generations are often thus attached 
to one another, and form a kind of animal society, 
in which all participate in the same life and the 
same wants. In this manner is a surprising chain 
of existence continued, and numbers of animals na- 
turally produced, till this hydra is decomposed, to 
