150 POPULAR HISTORY OF THE AQUARIUM. 



almost as soon as they are taken, and dissolve their sub- 

 stance into the \Yatery element of which it is so largely 

 composed. I remember being much astonished and disap- 

 pointed, when a child, at the strange result. Taking up 

 from the shore a large Jelly-fish, weighing a pound or two, 

 most beautifully formed, and still showing some slight signs 

 of life, I put him into a large pan of water, and, after taking 

 a good look at my prisoner, left him. On returning, after 

 a time, to examine him more minutely, what was my asto- 

 nishment to find no Jelly-fish in the pan, but an increase 

 of water, and an empty skin ! Pining at the cruelty of his 

 situation, he had, Niobe-like, melted away his substance in 

 tears. 



Yet there are very interesting facts in the history of these 

 evanescent animals, some of which may be observed in an 

 Aquarium. The prevailing form of a Jelly-fish is that of 

 an umbrella, with an upper and under disc, the space be- 

 tween the two being filled up with a liquid, which is in fact 

 little more than water. From the under disc, hangs a mass 

 called the peduncle, forming a handle to the umbrella. This 

 generally ends in four lobes or lips, much fringed and scal- 

 loped at their edges. The mouth is in the middle of these 

 lips, and leads, of course, to the stomach. From the rim of 



