OCR Text |
Show 50 ORIGIN OF SOCIETY. CANTO I£, So the lone Trenia, as he grows, prolongs I-lis flatten'd form with young adherent throngs; Unknown to sex the pregnant oyster swells, And coral-insects build their radiate shells; go dwell in our ditches and rivers under aquatic plants; these animals have been shown by ingeuio us observers to revive after having been dried, to be restored when mutilated, to be multiplied by eli vicling th em, and propagated from 1)ortions of them, parts of different ones to unite, to be turn ed inside outwards and yet Jive, and to be propagated by seeds, to produce bulbs, and vegetate by branches. Syst. Nat. The tone Tcenia. I. 87. The tape-worm dwells in the intestines of animals, and grows old at one extremity, producing an infinite series of young ones at the other; the separate joints have been called Gourd-worms, each of which possesses a mouth of its own, and organs of digestion. Syst. Nat. Tlzc pregnant O!JSier. 89. 0 trea edulis dw~lls in the European oceans, frequent at the tables of the luxurious, a living r epast! N cwborn oysters swim swiftly by an undulating movement of fins thrust out a little way from their shells. Sy t. Nat. But they do not afterwards change their place <luring their whole lives, and are capable of no other movement, but that of opening the shell a little way : whence Profess?r Beckman observes, that their offspring is probably produced without maternal organs; and that those, who speak of male and female oysters, must be mistaken: Phil. l\iagaz. :March 1800. It is also observed by H. I. lc Beck, that on nice inspection of the Pearl oysters in the gulf of Manar, he could observe no distinction of sexes. Nicholson's Journal. April 1800. And corat insects. 1. ~ 0. The coral habitation of the l\{adrepora of Linneus consists of one or more star-like cells; a congeries of which form rocks beneath the sea; the animal which constructs it is termed Medusa; and as it adheres to its calcareous cavity, and thence cannot CANTO II. REPRODUCTION OF LIFE. 5l Parturient Sires caress their infant train ' And heaven-born S~oRGE weaves the social chain; Successive births her tender cares combine ' And soft affections live along the line. " On angel-wings the GoDDEss FoRM descends ' Round her fond broods her silver arms she bends· ' White streams of milk her tumid bosom swell, And on her lips ambrosial kisses dwell. Light joys on twinkling feet before her dance With playful nod, and momentary glance; Behind, attendant on the pansied plain, 100 Young PsYcHE treads with CuPID in her train. III. " IN these lone births no tender mothers blend Their genial powers to nourish or defend; travel to its neighbours, is probably without sex. I observed great masses of the limestone in Shropshire, which is brought to Newport, to consist of the cells of these animals. Anrllteaven-born Storge. 1. 92. See Additional Note IX. |