HYDRA. 101 



with it in form or substance, sharing its intermediate nature. Further, 

 that to the creature which we recognize under this name is assigned a 

 most important province relative to the perfection and the perpetuation of 

 some tribes which we deem the farthest removed, those which occupy a 

 place altogether different in the order and arrangements of the universe. 



Nothing is more frequently the subject of speculation among ordinary 

 spectators, than the clear or coloured masses of a gelatinous-like substance 

 strewed on the sea-shore, sometimes in great profusion, particularly towards 

 the end of autumn. They are left there by the falling tide, either entire, 

 of a circular form, or broken into fragments. 



This is commonly called Sea-lluhber. I do not recollect to have 

 ever heard any other vernacular name applied to it in Scotland. 



But here are beheld only the remains of the Medasn, a marine ani- 

 mal, alike curious and beautiful, which, in extraordinary variety, frequents 

 the Scotish seas. 



In certain years they appear in thousands. It is not accurately as- 

 certained from whence they come or whither they go ; but they seem to 

 be dispersed over the whole world. In the year 1846, the fishermen told 

 me they were embarassed in casting their nets and sinking their lines from 

 the multitudes absolutely thickening the sea. Baster remarks their sin- 

 gular abundance on the coast of Holland in 1762. 



In the course of a series of experiments and observations for investi- 

 gating the properties of these animals, I directed a number of very capa- 

 cious glass vessels to be made, where a complete view of their singular for- 

 mation and habits would be obtained while living amidst their native ele- 

 ment. 



Then I took four fine specimens of the genus now established as the 

 Chrysaora of Peron, which, unless I be mistaken, is not distinctly noted 

 • among the profusion of synonyms occupying various general systems of 

 natural history. 



This species attains large dimensions ; one of the four was sixteen 

 inches in diameter, and of several pounds weight, and hence less convenient 

 for observation than smaller subjects. 



The animal consists of the segment of a sphere called the umbrella. 



