149 



CHAPTER VII. 



MEDUSiE, OR JELLY-FISH. — NOT GOOD AQUAEIANS. — THEIR HISTORY. — 

 MULTIPLICATION. — METAMORPHOSES. — CHRYSOAEIA CYCLONOTA. — BEROE 

 OVATA. — SEA-CUCUMBERS.— MODE OF PROGRESSION. — HABITS IN AN 

 AQUARIUM. — SELF - MUTILATIONS. — PSOLINUS BREVIS. — CUCUMARIA 

 GRANDIS. — THYONE PAPILLOSA. 



Sea-blubhers, or Jelly-fish, are among the most familiar ob- 

 jects of the shore. Those pellucid bladders of jelly are 

 often seen floating on the breakers, or thrown up by their 

 violence, on the beach, where they spangle and crowd the 

 sand and shingle, mingling with dead Laminarice wrecked by 

 the same mighty power. 



They are not creatures fitted for the Aquarium, even 

 when taken living; their part is to roam freely through the 

 wide ocean, and, themselves almost invisible, seek for living 

 prey. Tor a few days they may be kept, or even weeks, 

 but seldom and with difficulty. In most cases they die 



