VARIETIKS. 523 



1 1 . Continuation of Extracts from Mr. Davis s Journal. — 

 Fehruartj 18th, 18S8.— At sea, lat. 35° S. ; long. 14" 30' E.— 

 A beautiful summer's morning, and a dead calm. An immense 

 quantity of " whale's food" passed us in shoals of two or three 

 iieet wide, with intervals of a yard or more between the shoals. 

 When near the ship's side we could see innumerable brown 

 spots, but in the distance they imparted a ferruginous tint to 

 the sea, so that it appeared as if there were long red-brown 

 streaks in the water. A bucketful being drawn up, we found 

 the water teeming with life. I presume the animals were 

 Medusae; they were lumps of a pure white jelly, of about 

 three-quarters of an inch in length, and one-third of an inch in 

 breadth, having at one extremity a sm.all mammiform protuber- 

 ance, which in some specimens tapered off to a mere thread. 

 They possessed a strong pulsation, or muscular contraction, 

 which continued for five or six minutes, when they usually became 

 dry. In each was a brown speck, which I supposed to be the 

 head and stomach. I took a tea-cupful of the water contain- 

 ing them, and placed it in the sunshine, when the brown spots 

 and filaments were alone visible ; yet in the shadows of these 

 animals seen at the bottom of the cup, the entire outline of each 

 was clearly defined, and appeared variously adorned with trans- 

 verse rings ; their figure, as represented in these shadows, was 

 very much that of cowrie shells : the eflTect was extremely 

 pleasing. I could distinguish the mode in which they pro- 

 pelled themselves through the water ; this was done by con- 

 tracting the entire body, and then by suddenly releasing the 

 anterior portion from its contracted state, this part darted 

 forward, the remainder moved, or rather appeared to be dragged 

 after it: the perfectly transparent always preceding, and the 

 portion containing the brown spot following more slowly. Under 

 a glass I could discover nothing like muscular tissue ; but the 

 clearly defined shadows of lines, &c., of course proved the pre- 

 sence of somewhat solid muscular and partially opaque spots, 

 as compared with those which were perfectly transparent and 

 shadowless. I subsequently examined them under a high 

 power, and found below the brown part or stomach two trans- 

 parent sacs, which ^vere connected by filaments with a 

 variety of tubes under and around them; in those tubes I 

 observed a regular pulsation — they alternately dilated and 



