THE LASSO - THRO VV 7 57 
all together, each enclosed in a cup made of a pecu- 
liar substance called chilin, which is nearly allied to 
horn, and which also forms the skin of in I . 
whole stem is only one individual, for a fine livi 
thread passes down through the bottom of each cup 
and meets all the others within the stem, so that the 
food digested in each tiny stomach to feed the 
whole animal 
Here then we have hundreds of tiny lasso-throw 
acting as mouths and stomachs to one Scrtularia, as 
this specimen is called. Each mouth or polypite is 
go small as scarcely to be seen even as a speck by 
the naked eye, yet it has sixteen tiny arms, and e 
arm is crowded with lasso-cells ! 
And now in the summer months, between May 
and September, small round bags (S, 2, Fig. 2 1) appear 
scattered along the branches of this animal-tree, and 
each one of these is full of eggs; and by and by, when 
the eggs arc hatched, young sertularians swim out as 
little round jelly bodies, and settling down 1 
stone or seaweed grow up into new steins of la 
throwers. 
It is scarcely possible to conceive the number of 
minute beings which are feeding in this way at the 
bottom of the sea, This particular seitul 
oak coralline (Fig, 21) covers the seaweed of our 
coasts with miniature animal fon it is 
one oi the smaller kinds, sometimes not 
half -an-inch high* Others 
fleecy covering which looks only like a lit 
moss, but which is real 
Every child must be familiar w 
crust frequently to I 
