MODE OF CATCHING JELLY-FISHES. 85 



MODE OF CATCHING JELLY-FISHES. 



Not the least attractive feature in the study of these animals, 

 is the mode of catching them. We will suppose it to be a warm, 

 still morning at Nahant, in the last week of August, with a 

 breath of autumn in the haze that softens the outlines of the op- 

 posite shore, and makes the horizon line a little dim. It is about 

 eleven o'clock, for few of the Jelly-fishes are early risers ; they like 

 the warm sun, and at an earlier hour they are not to be found 

 very near the surface. The sea is white and glassy, with a slight 

 swell but no ripple, and seems almost motionless as we put off in 

 a dory from the beach near Saunders's Ledge. We are provided 

 with two buckets, one for the larger Jelly-fishes, the Zygodactyla, 

 Aurelia, &c., the other for the smaller fry, such as the various 

 kinds of Ctenophorae, the Tima, Melicertum, <fec. Beside these, 

 we have two nets and glass bowls, in which to take up the more 

 fragile creatures that cannot bear rough handling. A bump or 

 two on the stones before we are fairly launched, a shove of the 

 oar to keep the boat well out from the rocks along which we 

 skirt for a moment, and now we are off. We pull around the 

 point to our left and turn toward the Ledge, filling our buckets 

 as we go. Now we are crossing the shallows that make the 

 channel between the inner and outer rocks of Saunders's Ledge. 

 Look down, — how clear the water is and how lovely the sea- 

 weeds, above which we are floating, dark brown and purple 

 fronds of the Ulva?, and the long blades of the Laminaria with 

 mossy green tufts between. As we issue from this narrow pas- 

 sage we must be on the watch, for the tide is rising, and may 

 come laden with treasures, as it sweeps through it. A sudden 

 cry from the oarsman at the bow, not of rocks or breakers 

 ahead, but of " A new Jelly-fish astern ! " The quick eye of the 

 naturalist of the party pronounces it unknown to zoologists, un- 

 described by any scientific pen. Now what excitement ! " Out 

 with tlie net ! — we have passed him ! he has gone down ! no, 

 there he is again ! back us a bit." Here he is floating close by 

 us ; now he is within the circle of the net, but he is too delicate 



