In the given case, Adeline is probably to get scared and shocked regarding menarche as the culture of her time did not assist in educating young women about menarche.
Menarche refers to the initiation of the menstrual cycle, or first menstrual bleeding, in females. From both the medical and social point of view, it is usually regarded as the principal incident of female puberty, as it indicates the probability of fertility.
The difference between a multicellular organism and a colonial organism is that individual one-celled organisms from a colony can, if separated, survive on their own. so yes colonial organisms can live on their own.
