76 AN ANCIENT VILLAGE. 



quite concealed tlie disk. Presently afterwards I 

 perceived that this individual had just given birth to 

 two young ones, one of which was still adhering to the 

 edge of the mouth. I attempted to remove it, but it 

 resisted; at length it came away, dragging a third 

 young one, which was attached to it, out of an orifice 

 situated at the extremity of a line that divides the 

 protrusile lobes from each other. After the birth, I 

 examined this orifice with the lens : its edge appeared 

 lacerated or jagged, and I found that it led, not into 

 the stomach, but into the cavity surrounding the 

 stomach. I then searched at the opposite extremity 

 of the dividing line, and found a corresponding orifice 

 into which I could readily insert a pin without the 

 least resistance till it reached the sucking base. A 

 good deal of the contorted filaments commonly called 

 ovarian, was discharged from both orifices, which, 

 lying about, concealed them from view until searched 

 for. 



THE LONG-TONGUED MEDUSA. 



I continued my walk over the Ferry Bridge, and 

 along the ridge of pebbles, to the fishing village of 

 Chesil. It has an aspect of venerable antiquity, arising 

 chiefly from its being built, even to the poorest fisher- 

 men's huts, of massive stone ; the door-posts, the win- 

 dow-sills, the lintels, all of the grey freestone which 

 constitutes the staple of the island. The vast over- 

 hanging cliffs of the west side add to the grandeur 

 and impart an awfulness to the scene, which reminded 

 me of an exhumed town. The people visible were 

 few, and those were still, grave, and seemingly only 



