154 POPULAR HISTORY OF THE AQUARIUM. 



and expanding the frill of furbelows which borders their 

 edge. They undergo several changes after this, before they 

 assume the perfect form to which they are destined. But 

 what a wonderful history is theirs ! 



'' The very Jelly-fish/^ says Harvey_, ^' as it swims the 

 wave, expanding and contracting its umbrella, and thus 

 propelling itself through the water, has its beauty ; but few 

 are aware of the singularity of its history ; how its eggs are 

 of the nature of seeds, which, sown on their rocky bed, 

 sprout and grow, throwing out buds and suckers, each of 

 which forms an animal stem, quite unlike the parent Jelly- 

 fish ; till at a certain time young Jelly-fish begin to be 

 formed, and to be thrown off by the several branches, just 

 as flowers are formed and expand on the several branches 

 that originate from a vegetable seed. And if the abject 

 Jelly-fish, whose body consists of little more than organized 

 water, have a history so wonderful, shall we not expect to 

 find, in tracing the history of other tribes of animals, matter 

 of equal interest ? " 



Chrysoaria cyclonota, 



A magnificent species discovered by Mr. Gosse, a pet 

 specimen of which was kept living for three weeks in a 



