V 



And such is the memory of my early acquaint- 

 ance with Aurelia, loveliest of the larger medusae 

 ... I return to my writing-table, to attempt to 

 revive in words some semblance of the experiences 

 and emotions to that introductory period. But how 

 feeble are the limitations of human language ! 



The reader, of course, will recognize that this 

 history is incomplete, that the mature jellyfish is 

 not yet. My observations of the moon-jelly, such as 

 I was able to make from the tanks and jars of my 

 laboratory, ended with the free-swimming stage of 

 the ephyrula. From that time onward I have never 

 successfully been able to rear them. Continued 

 confinement seems fatal to them: not one of the 

 many thousands I have nursed through their early 

 stages has ever reached maturity. Nor has the sea 

 told me anything which the laboratory has not 

 revealed. 



Yet five years went by before sufficient evidence 

 had accumulated to convince me that Aurelia had 

 little more to deny, in the way of information 

 regarding its growth and development. Then it 



[379] 



