74 SEA-NETTLES, 



itself in any direction with the greatest ease, and by means of the suckers 

 to ascend masses of rosk or coral for the purpose of obtaining its prey, or 

 of even burying itself in the sand to elude pursuit; and thus the most 

 apparently defenceless, and, to our ideas, perhaps, at first sight, the most 

 imperfectly developed animal, displays to the eye of the anatomist, the most 

 admirable and superior organization, though differing in actual structure 

 from the reptilea or mammalia. 



(To be contbimd.) 



SEA-NETTLES. 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 



It has been well said of mariners, whose business is in the '^great waters," 

 that they see the wonders of the Creator in the deep; and if this was the 

 experience of the inspired Psalmist, when so little — so infinitely little — was 

 known of those wonders, how mush more true must it be in these enlightened 

 days, when, ignorant as oi'dinary men still are of the inhabitants of the vast 

 ocean, and much as every year shews us to justify the extension of this 

 assertion to even those known as scientific, no one who has the least observation, 

 and who has glided over the glassy surface of the sea on a clear sun-light 

 day, or contemplated the sublime prospect in the calm moon-light, can fail 

 to be filled with wonder and admiration at the very magnitude of the thought, 

 which the bare idea of the unknown depths, and what may there be hid, 

 must inspire. Of the Fishes, (P/sce.s,) we probably have a tolerably general 

 knowledge, at all events of the different genera; for, although in remote islands 

 hitherto unobserved kinds are discovered, these are usually new species, not 

 genera, although a case lately occurred in which a new fish, if I mistake not, 

 of almost a new genus, was observed at Malta ; and yet, attention being drawn 

 to the subject, it was found to have been familiar to the fishermen of 

 Southampton Water for years; a sad reflexion on our icthyologists ! Fishes 

 too, as a mass, inhabit regions only comparatively near to land, the Cetacca, 

 the Sharks, and a few others only, being found on the boundless watery waste. 

 But sail whei'e we will, leave thousands of miles on all sides of us, the ocean 

 is still peopled by so vast a multitude of beings, that the least acquaintance 

 with them fills one's soul with the most admiring awe. 



Of these the most numerous are the Acalephce, or Sea-nettles, including 

 the Medusae, and those brilliant denizens of the flood that gleam in such 

 countless myriads in the track of the good ship, as she bears us on towards 

 the haven where we would be. Familiar to the inhabitants of every beach 

 where they are cast on the shore, mere apparent masses of jelly, yet enquire 

 more closely into their organization, and a field of wonder opens to us almost 

 too vast to receive at once. These beautiful creatures vary exceedingly in 

 size; some are alone discernible by the aid of a powerful microscope, others 



