other French Naturalists.—See Generation and Microscope.
ANIMAL FLOWER (Actinia Sociata) from its supposed property of stinging, was formerly called Sea-Nettle, or Sea-Anemone, but by late English writers has received its present name. This singular animal was found in some of the islands which were ceded to this country in the late treaty of peace with France. It is of a tender, fleshy substance, which consists of many tubular bodies, gently swelling towards the upper part, and terminating like a bulb, or very small onion: its only orifice is in the centre of the uppermost part, surrounded with rows of tentacles or claws which, when contracted, appear like circles of beads. This opening is capable of great extension, and it is amazing to see what large fish some of them can swallow, such as muscles, crabs, &c. When the animal has scratched out the fish, it throws back the shells through the same passage. From this aperture likewise, it produces its young ones alive, already furnished with little claws, which they extend in search of food, as soon as they are fixed. At low water, they are found on the rocky coasts of Sussex and Cornwall, attached in the shallows to some solid substance, by a broad base, like a sucker. This base is worthy of notice—the knobs observable on it, are formed into several parts, by its insinuating itself into the inequalities of rocks, or grasping pieces of shells, part of which frequently remain in it, covered with the fleshy substance. By its assistance, they are enabled to preserve themselves from the violence of the waves, and withstand the fury of a storm. Animal flowers very much resemble the exterior leaves of the anemone, and their limbs are not unlike its shag, or inner part. They are said to possess, in an extraordinary degree, the power of re-producfion, so that to multiply them at pleasure, nothing more is necessary than to cut a single one into several pieces.
ANIMAL FOOD. See Food.
ANIMAL KINGDOM, an expression which includes all organized living bodies capable of sensation and voluntary motion: and essentially differing from plants and minerals, which have neither organs of sense, nor the power of loco-motion.
Another circumstance affords a criterion to distinguish animals from vegetables and fossils; which, in many instances, so closely border on each other, especially the two former, that naturalists have frequently hesitated, to which of these kingdoms certain marine productions, for instance, the polypus, may with the greatest propriety be referred.—See Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms. The circumstance alluded to is the following:
1. All bodies which grow from without, that is, derive their origin and increase in such manner as to approximate to themselves certain foreign and inert particles, and are incapable of motion, consequently inanimate, are called minerals or fossils.
2. Bodies having no aggregate form, but growing from within, being provided with curtain tubes or vessels adapted to the circulation of fluids, which afford them nourishment and promote their extension, may be said to enjoy a passive life, and are therefore termed vegetables, or plants.
