190 



THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1895. 



©rift 'Wood. 



Wiry The Jellyfish Has No Bones. — 

 Every admirer of Japanese art is familiar 

 mth the peculiar attitudes in which the 

 artist has represented the objects he used 

 for decorative purposes. The Japanese is a 

 great lover and accurate observer of Xatiire. 

 He uses both the animal and vegetable 

 kingdom with great success in decoration. 

 Only a very few scenes represented on 

 bronzes, porcelain or in embroidery, etc., 

 are understood bj^ our people, and this is 

 because their literature and legends are as 

 yet but very Little known. 



As little as the Japanese would under- 

 stand the meaning of a bronze bass-relief 

 representing the awakening of Eip van 

 Winkle, or the descent of the Indian maiden 

 over the falls of the Niagara, or pictures 

 illustrating the Song of Hiawatha, just as 

 strange in appearance are those decorations 

 to us that illustrate their legends, fal)les or 

 history. Our admiration for their works 

 of art is based principally upon their artistic 

 merits in regard to color-effects or forms. 



From a little booklet entitled ' ' The Silly 

 Jellyfish: a Japanese Fairy Tale," wliich 

 we picked np in one of the Japanese stores 

 of this city, we abstract the following : 



" The king of the dragons, who had lived 

 for a long time as a bachelor, decided to get 

 married. His bride was a young drago- 

 nette, just sixteen years old and very 

 lovely. All the fishes, great and small, 

 came to pay their respects to their queen. 

 But before long the young queen became 

 quite ill. The doctors had given her up, 

 Avhen the queen expressed the -wish to eat a 

 live monkey's liver, which she knew would 

 certainly cure her 



' ' A live monkey was ver j' hard to obtain, 

 as dragons live in the sea; and her husband 

 told her so. But she cried, and finally' said 

 that she wished she had staid at home with 

 her own mamma and papa. This, of course, 

 startled her husband. He at once ordered 

 his servant, a jellj'fish, to swim across the 

 sea to the monkey land and induce one of 

 these creatures to come with him. 



" In those days jellj-fish had bones, eyes, 

 fins, and even little legs to enable them to 

 crawl about on shore. It did not take this 



fish many hours until he had reached the 

 shore where he knew monkej's could be 

 met, and luck favored him, as he met one 

 on a tree close by the sea. 



' ' It was not very hard to indiice the in- 

 quisitive monkey to go back with him to see 

 the wonderful dragon land. While the jelly- 

 fish swam across the sea again, carrying the 

 monkey on his back, thought came to the lat- 

 ter that not everything might be right. He 

 could not see why an entire stranger should 

 do or promise him any favors when he had no 

 object in view. He thereupon cutelj^ turned 

 the conversation and learned that his liver 

 was needed for the sick dragon queen. 

 'Why didn't you tell me so before?' he re- 

 plied, ' as nothing would suit me better than 

 to be of service to yoiir cpieen. I would in 

 that case have taken my liver with me. Our 

 liver being rather heavj-, we -monkej'S hang- 

 it up in the top of a tree when we are plac- 

 ing, and I see no other way than to go back 

 and get it.' A monkey without a liver 

 being of no use to the jellyfish, he was 

 obliged to swim back t > the land. When 

 the monkey had reached the shore again he 

 climbed into a large tree and advised the 

 jellyfish to return without him. 



"On his return to the king the jellyfish 

 told what had happened, and this sillj^ 

 action made the king so mad that he 

 ordered him whipped until all the bones 

 within his body were broken. And this is 

 the reason, according to the Japanese 

 legend, why jellyfish have no bones." 



We remember having seen a large bronze 

 tablet showing a monkey on a tree making 

 motions toward a fish in the water. This, 

 no doubt, alludes to that "confidence 

 game " between the jellyfish and the 

 monkey. 



Dangerous Bouquets. — A lady of 

 Macon, Georgia, was arranging a beau- 

 tiful floral design as a tribute to be laid 

 upon the casket containing a dej^arted 

 friend. In selecting the leaves from 

 the plant eujihorbia, the stem produc- 

 ing them was broken, when a drop of 

 sap was spattered into her eye. In- 

 flammation immediately followed, which 

 extended down her cheek, and her 

 hands, which wiped away the tears from 

 her eyes, were similarly affected. 



