CYAXEA. 



41 



These myriad whips can be thrown out at the will of the animal, 

 and really form an efficient galvanic battery. Behind the veil 

 of tentacles, and partly hidden by it, four curtains, with lobed or 

 ruffled margins, dimly seen in Fig. 44, hang down from the un- 

 der surface of the disk. The ovaries are formed by four pendent 

 pouches, placed near the sides of the mouth, and attached to four 

 cavities within the disk. Around the circumference of the disk 

 are eight eye-specks, each formed by a small tube protected un- 

 der a little lappet or hood rising from the upper surface of the 

 disk. The prevailing color of this huge Jelly-fish is a dark 

 brownish-red, with a light, milk-white margin, tinged with blue, 

 the tentacles and other pendent appendages having a some- 

 what different hue from the disk. The ovaries are flesh-col- 

 ored, the curtain formed by the expansion of the lobes of the 

 mouth is dark brown, while the tentacles are of different colors, 

 some being yellow, others purple, and others reddish brown or 

 pink. 



Strange to say, this gigantic Discophore is produced by a Hy- 

 droid measuring not more than half an inch in height when full 

 grown ; could we follow the history of any egg laid by one of 

 these Discophora3 in the autumn, which has indeed been par- 



Fig. 45. 



Fig. 47. 



Fhr. 46 



tially done, we should see that, like any other planula, the young 

 hatched from the egg is at first spherical, but presently becomes 

 pear-shaped, and attaches itself to the ground. From the upper 



Fig. 45. Scyphistorna of a Discophore ; Aurelia flavidula. (Ayassi2.) 



Fig. 46. Scyphistoma, older than Fig. 45. (Jyassiz.) 



Fig. 47. Strobila of a Discophore ; Aurelia flavidula. (Agassiz.) 



