A PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. 55 
creatures resembling drops of animated ice, 
tiny crystals of jelly, or floating jewels. Close 
study reveals in them organisms quite as mar- 
velous as are possessed by sea beauties of larger 
erowth. Some looking like translucent glob- 
ules are furnished with bands of membranous 
fins or pellucid paddles whose ever-varying mo- 
tion, under the play of light upon their glitter- 
ing surfaces, gives them all the hues of a prism. 
“ Others are like fairy umbrellas of clearest 
crystal dotted with yellow specks along the 
margin; these the sages say are eyes. Fring- 
ing tentacles, more than a dozen times the 
length of the disk, float about them and shim- 
mer like threads of fine-spun glass. To com- 
plete the fairylike umbrella the queer little 
stomach of the medusa hangs like a tiny 
handle from its center with the knoblike 
mouth at its extremity. Through the trans- 
parent canals we can see what this medusa 
had for breakfast and watch the process of 
digestion. 
“The helpful lens enables.us to trace the 
jellyfish through all its glittering transitions— 
from the egg or gemmule to the time when, 
tired of a sedentary, budding existence, it re- 
turns to the ‘original type’ and shoots off in- 
dependently. 
