File:In brook and bayou; or, Life in the still waters (1897) (14760109081).jpg

Identifier: inbrookbayouorli00bayl (find matches)
Title: In brook and bayou; or, Life in the still waters
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Bayliss, Clara Kern, 1848-
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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a viridiSj or green hydra, mustbe the ultimate object which the unaided eyecan perceive. The brown ones (Hydra vidgaris) weresomewhat larger. A coiled one clinging to theglass looked at first glance like a small leafletof Lemna with the roots attached. Anotheradult had a young one budded from its side,and the little one was extending its tentacles,trying to earn its o^vn living in the world.Afterward I saw this baby clinging alone onthe glass, a mere speck, with six almost imper-ceptible fibers radiating from its head, lookingmore like a minute poppy seed trying to be astar than like a living creature watching for itsbread and butter. In another place a parentand child were trying to swallow the same worm. The five or seven tentacles of the hydraBare their arms, and surround the mouth, which 142 IN BROOK AND BAYOU. is nothing more than an opening at the top ofthe hollow tube. The tentacles are hollowand covered with warts or. knobs (3, ChartIV), and in each knob is coiled a lasso with
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a sting at the end of it. The hydra sits withthese long arms extended, and when its preyappears, throws out the lassos and paralyzesthe victim with its stings. Then the armsbend over and force the benumbed victimdown the hydras throat. THE HUNGEY GLOVE. 143 The addition of a drop of acetic acid to thewater on the slide will irritate the hydra, caus-ing it to throw out its lasso lines. A shelledanimal, like a crustacean, may be protectedfrom the sting by its hard covering; but asoft animal, like a worm, always dies even whenthe tentacles do not convey it to the mouth. The tentacles also assist in locomotion; forthe hydra can bend over, as in 2, Fig. 40, hold-ing on by the tentacles while it loosens its footand sets it forward, like a measure worm. These hydrse may be turned, tentacles andall, making skin into stomach and placing thestomach outside where the skin belongs. Aftertwo or three days they will eat again as vora-ciously as ever. You ma)^ tear ofl: their fingers,and they will g

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