was that I came upon the jellyfish larvae, the find- 

 ing of which has been detailed in another chapter. 

 By the study of these, whose lives an increased 

 experience had enabled me to prolong, and by 

 piecing together such fragments of information as 

 I had gained in different seasons and on different 

 occasions, I think I have learned with certainty 

 how Aurelia aurita rounds out its natural life. Its 

 history can be summarized as follows : 



1. In the summer and autumn, the contained 

 eggs of the female are reached and fertilized by 

 sperms liberated freely in the water from the 

 gonads of the male. The fertilized motile egg 

 (called planula larva?) escape from the manubrial, 

 or mouth-part, folds depending from the mother, 

 and seek an anchorage on the floor of the sea. In 

 this place of security and of even temperature, and 

 remote from the shore where prevails the stress of 

 winter storms and forming ice, they live until the 

 following spring. 



2. Before winter actually arrives, however, the 

 larvse enter the scyphistoma stage. During this 

 period they remain firmly fixed to stones or dead 

 shells, seaweeds or other supports, awaiting with 

 languid outstretched arms to grasp with what 



[38o] 



