Polype

“ If the polype be fixed near the top of the glass, the arms for the most part hang down toward the bottom. This is a very convenient situation for feeding it, and observing its management of the food.
The polypes are in general very voracious: an hungry one extends its arms as a fisherman his nets; it spreads them every way, so that they form a circle of considerable extent, every part of which is entirely within the reach of one of them. ”

“ If the truncated portions of a polype be placed end to end, and gently pushed together, they will unite into a single one. The two portions are first joined together by a slender neck, which gradually fills up and disappears, the food passing from one part into the other; and thus we may form polypes, not only from different portions of the same animal, but from those of different animals. We may fix the head of one to the body of another, and the compound animal will grow, eat, and multiply, as if it had never been divided. ”

“ A polype cut transversely or longitudinally, in two or three parts, is not destroyed; each part in a little time becomes a perfect polype. This species of fecundity is so great in these animals, that even a small portion of their skin will become a little polype, a new animal rising as it were from the ruins of the old, each small fragment yielding a polype. If the young ones be mutilated while they grow upon the parent, the mutilated parts [383] are re-produced ”

“ The simplest form of polype is that of a fleshy bag open at one end, surmounted by a circle of contractile threads or fingers called tentacles. The plate shows, on a very minute scale, at figs. 1, 3, and 6, several of these little polypiform bodies protruding from their cells. But the Hydra or Fresh-water Polype has no cell, and is quite unconnected with any root thread, or with other individuals of the same species. It is perfectly free, and so simple in its structure, that when the sac which forms its body is turned inside out it will continue to perform the functions of life as before. ”

“ The animal kingdom presents still greater difficulties. When, from sundry points on the body of a common polype, there bud out young polypes which, after acquiring mouths and tentacles and closing up the communications between their stomachs and the stomach of the parent, finally separate from the parent; we may with propriety regard them as distinct individuals. But when in the allied compound Hydrozoa, we find that these young polypes continue permanently connected with the parent ”

“ Not polypes at all, but jelly-fish, are in this capsule: and these in due time will produce polypes, like that one now waving its tentacles.
Having made this observation, it will naturally occur to you that the polype stem which bore such different capsules as are represented by these two, may perhaps be called a colony, but it is a colony of different individuals. ”

“ Page 25, line 21.—Trembley led the way in the actual study from life of the Polype tribe, particularly the hydra. "Sometimes two polypes will seize on the same worm; and most amusing is it then to witness the struggle that ensues, sometimes resulting in the swallowing of the weaker polype by the stronger, which, however, is soon disgorged with no other loss than his dinner." "If the body be halved in any direction, each half grows into a perfect hydra." "When a polype is introduced by the tail into another body, the two unite and form one individual ”

“ The worm, coming out of the mouth of the polype, forces it to enlarge itself considerably, especially if it comes out doubled up. When the polype is in this state, I take it gently out of the water, without disturbing anything, and place it on the edge of my hand, which is simply moistened, so that it [Pg 66] may not adhere too closely. I oblige it to contract more and more, and this also enlarges the stomach and mouth. ”

“ A truncated portion will put forth young before it is perfectly formed itself, or has acquired its new head and tail; sometimes the head of the young one supplies the place of that which would grow out of the anterior part of the trunk.
If a polype be slit, beginning at the head, and proceeding to the middle of the body, a polype will be formed with two heads, and will eat at the same time with both. If the polype be slit into six or seven parts, it becomes a hydra with six or seven heads. ”

“ The outer integument is either membranaceous or horny; sometimes calcareous. The oral aperture or mouth is surrounded by a circle of tentacula, from eight to twelve or more in number, and these tentacles are clothed with vibratile cilia. (Wond. p. 606, the polype of Flustra pilosa.)
The polypes in this order never occur singly; they are always united by a common integument, but each enjoys an individual existence. ”

“ A polype, feeding on minute annelids and crustaceans which, flitting through the water, come in contact with its tentacles, and limited to that quantity of prey which chance brings within its grasp, buds out young polypes which, either as a colony or as dispersed individuals, spread their tentacles through a larger space of water than the parent alone can; and by producing them, the parent better insures the continuance of its species than it would do if it went on slowly growing until its nutrition was nearly balanced by its waste, and then multiplied by gamogenesis. ”

“ Polyorama, pol-i-ō-ra′ma, n. an optical apparatus presenting many views.
Polyp, Polype, pol′ip, n. a name usually applied to an animal like the fresh-water hydra, having a tubular body, and a wreath of many tentacles round the mouth: something with many feet or roots: a pedunculated tumour attached to the surface of a mucous membrane—in the nose, &c.—also Pol′ypus:—pl. Polypes (pol′ips) , Polypi (pol′i-pī) .—ns. Pol′ypary, the horny or chitonous outer covering of a colony of polyps; Pol′ypide, an individual zoöid of a polyzoarium or compound polyzoan ”

“ The manner of dividing a Chrysipus differs, however, greatly from that of the Polypus; for whereas we are taught in that excellent treatise above-mentioned, that [4] 'If the body of a Polypus is cut into two parts transversely, each of those parts becomes a complete Polypus: on the very day of the operation, the first part, or anterior end of the Polypus, that is, the head, the mouth, and the arms: this part, I say, lengthens itself, it creeps, and eats.
'The second part, which has no head, gets one; a mouth forms itself at the anterior end; and shoots forth arms. ”

“ When the young polyp is separated from the mother, it swims about, and executes all the movements peculiar to adult animals. The entrance into life and maturity takes place with these beings at one and the same moment. Infancy and youth are suppressed in this little world.
So long as the young polyp remains attached to the mother, she is the nurse; by a touching change, the young polyp nurses her in his turn. In short, the stomach of the mother and her young have communication; so that the prey swallowed by the parent passes partially into the stomach of her progeny. ”

“ In the case of the Polyps, we may believe that there is special sensation in the tentacles and oral opening of each - 253 - individual, and that each may experience hunger when in want, or satisfaction when it is filled with food, and that injuries to one part of the mass may indirectly affect other parts, but that the nutrition of the whole mass may be as much unfelt by the individual Polyps as the processes going on in our own bones are by us. ”

“ They say you can tell a man of Kent or a Somersetshire man; certainly you can tell a Yorkshire man, and this fellow could only have been a man of Devon, one of the two main types found in this county. He whistled; and out came Pasiance in a geranium-coloured dress, looking like some tall poppy—you know the slight droop of a poppy's head, and the way the wind sways its stem.... She is a human poppy, her fuzzy dark hair is like a poppy's lustreless black heart, she has a poppy's tantalising attraction and repulsion, something fatal, or rather fateful. ”

“ Diocles, in the first book of his treatise on Wholesome Things, says—"The molluscous fish are calculated to give pleasure, and to excite the amorous propensities; especially the polypi (ὁι πολυποδες) ." And Aristotle relates that the polypus has eight feet, of which the two highest and the two lowest are the smallest, and those in the middle are the largest; and they have also two feelers, with which they bring their food to their mouth. And they have their eyes placed above their two upper feet; and their mouth and teeth are between their feet. ”

“ Then each half-pipe becomes a whole one complete: a stomach is formed, in which nothing is wanting; and out of each half-mouth a whole one is formed also.
'I have seen all this done in less than an hour; and that the Polypus produced from each of those halves, at the end of that time, did not differ from the whole ones, except that it had fewer arms; but in a few days more grew out.
'I have cut a Polypus lengthways, between seven and eight in the morning; and between two and three in the afternoon, each of the parts has been able to eat a worm as long as itself. ”

“ None of the Patriarchs lived in a regular state of society, governed by established laws ; but each was the head of his clan—a petty chieftain, acknowledging no superior. The surrounding chieftains, also, as well as the tribes whom they governed, all practised Polygamy. With these things in view, let us see what the Practice of the Patriarchs actually was, on this subject, both before and after the Deluge.
1. Adam was placed in a situation, in which Polygamy was neither lawful, nor possible. ”

“ Cope rose. "Nothing to tell anyone," he repeated. "Nothing."
"Then let me tell you something." There was an angry thrill in her voice. "For I am not so selfish and cold-hearted as you are. I have seen nobody but you all these months. I have never tried harder to please anybody. You have scarcely noticed me—you have never given me a glance or a thought. You could interest yourself in that silly Amy and in our foolish Carolyn; but for me—me— Nothing!"
Cope came down from the throne. ”

“ Cope had taken his hand vigorously, as that of the only man (among many women) from whom he had much to expect, and had given him a dozen words in a loud tone which seemed to correspond with his pressure. But Cope's voice, in his hearing, had lapsed from resonance to non-resonance, and from that to tonelessness, and from that to quietude.... Was the fellow in process of making a long diminuendo—a possible matter of weeks or of months? As before, when confronted by what had once seemed a paragon of dash and vigor, he scarcely knew whether to be exasperated or appeased. ”

“ Father Griffen is devoted to her; through him I shall learn where she is, if he knows.
"But, Polyphème, you are mad! You love this woman without a ray of hope. She is passionately in love with her husband; and, although people have complacently taken you for him, he is as handsome, as much of a 'grand seigneur,' as interesting, as you are ugly, ridiculous, and insignificant, although of ancient race, Polyphème.
"Eh? Zounds! what does it matter? In again beholding Blue Beard I shall not be happy, that is true, but I shall be content. ”

“ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually; and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth."—The fact, that Polygamy became general, or that men took them wives of all whom they chose, is here obviously assigned as the cause of that universal corruption and violence, which occasioned the Deluge. These are the only two examples of Antediluvian Polygamy. ”

“ In the centre of the disc is the mouth, a simple opening, a mere hole in the top of a sac.
[86] Our polyp, or anemone, has no organs of locomotion, no organs of sight, taste or hearing, indeed no brain. It has at any rate the rudiments of a nervous and muscular system, for it is able to move its tentacles all towards that one which has captured prey and assist it in conveying the food to the mouth. ”

“ When I bade you go to the Tandil in fifteen days, I spoke only to mislead that man Polycarp, who has an evil mind. Can I ride a hundred leagues and back in fifteen days? Say no word of this to any man. And fear not. If I fail to return with your wife at the appointed time take some of that money you have offered me, and bid a priest say a mass for my soul's repose; for eye of man shall never see me again, and the brown hawks will be complaining that there is no more flesh to be picked from my bones. ”

“ By searching, reflecting, and comparing, I became persuaded that the foundation of my complaint was a polypus at the heart, and Doctor Salomon appeared to coincide with the idea. Reasonably this opinion should have confirmed my former resolution of considering myself past cure; this, however, was not the case; on the contrary; I exerted every power of my understanding in search of a remedy for a polypus, resolving to undertake this marvellous cure. ”

“ Then suddenly his arms shot out again, and he exclaimed very quickly in a high, strained voice: "Pride has always been your besetting sin, Richard. You aren't a bad chap in any way that I know of. But you're proud. And it doesn't become any of us to be proud"—his spirit was shaking the words out of his faltering flesh—"for we're all miserable sinners. You needn't order me"—he spoke more glibly now, the flesh and the spirit seemed in complete agreement—"to come out of the garden like that. I wish Poppy hadn't gone in." ”