THE GROWTH OF JELLY-FISHES. 



587 



elegant creature, with a bell like cut-glass, and long, waving ten- 

 tacles. Its movements are so instinct with grace that an admirer 

 of the lines and curves of Nature could desire no better or more 

 fascinating occupation than the observation of an aquarium 

 stocked with a few specimens of this attractive jelly-fish. The 

 drawing is accurate, so far as mere shape goes, but no drawing 

 can represent its jewel-like brilliancy or the elegance of its move- 

 ments. Its chief interest to us, however, centers in its life-history, 

 which is very different from' that of Dysmorphosa. Its proper 

 home is the deep water of mid-ocean, not the shallows near shore ; 

 and it has no attached stage of development, but floats or swims 

 at all periods of its life. The eggs are thrown out into the water, 

 and each one soon develops into the embryo which is shown, 

 highly magnified, in Fig. 3. 



This embryo, which is a planula adapted for floating instead 

 of swimming, is a hollow sphere, the walls of which are formed of 



Pig. 7, side view, and Fip 8, a broad view of a young Liriope : 5, Swim-bell ; d, stomach ; e, montb ; 

 /, larval tentacles ; g, long teutaclea of adalt ; A, short tentacles of adult; i, areas of adhesion ; 

 jfc, otocysts ; I, radial canals. 



two spherical shells, an outer one, a, which forms the surface of 

 the body, and an inner one, c, which lines the central cavity, the 

 two being separated from each other by a gelatinous layer, h, 

 which serves to float the embryo in the water. The central cavity 

 has at first no opening to the exterior, and the two shells are 

 concentric, but they soon approach each other at a point, a', and 



