332 MEDUSA-FISHING. 



Between each pair of tentacles and the next pair 

 was set a single visual or auditory capsule, compara- 

 tively large, sessile on the outer border of the circular 

 canal: its substance was transparent and colourless, 

 and the higly refractile spherule within was connected 

 with an oval cell or vesicle, forming apparently the 

 end of it. 



The sub-umbrella was campanulate, dense in struc- 

 ture, with longitudinal fibres or rugae. The umbrella 

 contained many oval clear granules scattered in its 

 substance, proportionally larger than those of the 

 medusoid of Camp, volubilis. 



After some time I perceived that it was reversed ; 

 the pedicelled stomach being on the outside, and the 

 visual capsules being within the margin. Figs, I 

 and 2 represent the Medusoid: 3, a pair of tentacles: 

 4, an organ of vision. , 



MEDUSA FISHING. X 



A sail for a mile or two along the coast opened up 

 to me a new field of interesting research, and made 

 me acquainted with a tribe of beautiful creatures that 

 I had hitherto known only by report. I had provided 

 myself with a ring-net of fine muslin, a foot wide and 

 two feet deep, affixed to a staff six feet in length, for 

 capturing my prey; and a basket containing two or 

 three glass jars of different sizes, for preserving the 

 specimens and bringing them home. At first I sat in 

 the stem-sheets and held the net at the surface per- 

 pendicularly, with the staff against a thole-pin, as if 

 it had been an oar ; drawing it in for examination after 



