a transmission of will in the zoophyte, though composed of
thousands of distinct polypi, as in any single animal. The
case, indeed, is not different from that of the sea-pens, which,
when touched, drew themselves into the sand on the coast of
Bahia Blanca. I will state one other instance of uniform
action, though of a very different nature, in a zoophyte
closely allied to Clytia, and therefore very simply organized.
Having kept a large tuft of it in a basin of salt-water, when
it was dark I found that as often as I rubbed any part of a
branch, the whole became strongly phosphorescent with a
green light: I do not think I ever saw any object more
beautifully so. But the remarkable circumstance was, that the
flashes of light always proceeded up the branches, from the
base towards the extremities.

The examination of these compound animals was always
very interesting to me. What can be more remarkable that
to see a plant-like body producing an egg, capable of swimming
about and of choosing a proper place to adhere to,
which then sprouts into branches, each crowded with innumerable
distinct animals, often of complicated organizations.
The branches, moreover, as we have just seen, sometimes
possess organs capable of movement and independent of the
polypi. Surprising as this union of separate individuals in
common stock must always appear, every tree displays the
same fact, for buds must be considered as individual plants.
It is, however, natural to consider a polypus, furnished with
a mouth, intestines, and other organs, as a distinct individual,
whereas the individuality of a leaf-bud is not easily realised,
so that the union of separate individuals in a common body