The Animal Flower. ; Hughes’s , Hifi. o f Barbadees,
pag. 293. tab. 24. fig. 1.
This animal flower is defcribed by Hughes in his
Hiftory of Barbadoes, and the figure reprefented in the
plate is taken from thence. ; _
Mr. Hughes obferves, that thefe animals on being dif-
turbed fink into holes; which is very different from the
reft of this genus : befides, he fays he obferved four dark
colored threads, fomething like the legs of a fpider, rife
out from the center of what he calls the flower, with a
quick fpontaneous motion from one fide to the other of the
circular border of leaves: thefe in reality, he fays, were
fo many arms or feelers, doling together in imitation of
a forceps, as i f they had hemmed in their prey, which
the yellow border foon furrounded and clofed to fecur«
From the foregoing defcription, the animal fhould
feem rather to be a particular fpecies of Tubularia, with
its tube in the hole öf thé rock ; but this muft be left to
future obfexvations j at prefent we lhall call it an Adtinia.
II. H Y D R A .
Animal bafi fe affigens,
vagum, gelatinofum, hr.
neare,, nudum, - contractile
.O
s terminale, drrhis
fetaceis cinElum.
Prolibus lateralibus
( autumno ovis) deciduis.
F R E S H W A T E R P O L Y P E .
This animal fixes itfelf by
its bafe ; it is gelatinous, linear,
naked, can contract itfelf,
and change its place.
Its mouth, which -is atone
end, is furrounded by hair-
like feelers.
It fends forth its young
ones from its fides, which drop
o f f ; but in the autumn it
produces eggs from its fides.
Though
Though there are feveral fpecies of this genus, I Ihali
mention but two of them, and thefe differ but little from,
each other, which is chiefly in the number and length of
their feelers.
I fhould not have introduced this genus, but that the
knowledge of the properties of this animal tends greatly
to illuftrate the nature of Zoophytes in general ; as this,
alone belongs 'to the frefh water, and all the others are.
inhabitants of the lea.
1. Hydra fufca. Longarmedf rep-water Polype.
Hydra tentaculisfuboc- This frefh-water polype has
tonis longijjimis. ' very long arms, often 8 in
number, and feveral times
longer than its body.
Ellis Corallin. tab. 28. fig. C. (The claws are here
fhortened, for the conveniency of introducing them within,
the fize of the plate.)
Hydra fufca. Linn. Syft. Nat. Ed. i2-. pag. 1320.
2. Hydra vulgaris.
Hydra tentaculis lon-
gioribus fubfeptenis, corpore
lutefcente p o f ice at-
tenuato...
The common frejh-water Polype
of the ditches.
This frefh-water polype has
longifh arms, generally about
7, which are twice as long as
its body ; it is of a yellowifh
color, and fmaller towards the
bottom.
Frep-water Polype. Phil. Tranf. Vol. 57. pag. 430,.
tab. 19.
Hydra g rifea. Linn. Syft. Nat. Ed. 12. pag. 1320.
C Iru