Chap. I. 



HISTORY OF THE ACALEPIIS. 



15 



description of the Physalia' (wliicli ought to l)e remcinljered in connection Avith 

 the illustrations of Patrick Brown already quoted); Dana's- dissertation upon marine 

 animals ; and Slabber's delineations of several Medusa?.'' Besides these, the more 

 general works of Donati,* Hughes/ Hill/ Kalm," Pontoppidan/ and Borlase/ also 

 mention incidentally different kinds of Acalephs. The book of Borlase contains 

 the first descriptions ever published of the Medusa3 of the British coast accompa- 

 nied with figures that may be recognized. 



Notwithstanding this accumulation of observations, the real information respecting 

 Medusa3 thus far brought together is still scanty and disconnected. It consists 

 chiefly of isolated facts without connecting links ; and, though the modes of observ- 

 ing and descril)ing ai'e fast improving, we must pass on through another half 

 century before we find naturalists ajiplying to the study of Acalephs .the accurate 

 methods to which Zoology owes its present condition. Pallas^" and Forskal" are the 

 first who give fuller descriptions of Medusa? and attemj^t to distinguish their parts 



marinis eorumque propriotatibus vel nondum vel 

 minus notis, etc., Dresda^, 17G1, 4to. fig. 



^ CuANVALi.ON (Thib. de), Vojagc a la Mar- 

 tinique, contenant diverscs observations sur la Phy- 

 sique, I'llistoire naturelle, 1' Agriculture, les mocurs 

 et les usages de cette lie, Paris, 17C3, 4to. 



2 Dana (J. P. M.), Dissertation sur les diffe- 

 rences que presentent certains animaux niarins 

 connus sous la denomination d'Ortie marine. Misc. 

 Taurin, III. p. 20C. — Description d'une espece de 

 Meduse, in Eozier, Journal de Physique, Indroduet. 

 I. 1771, p. 141. 



' Slabber (Mart.), Naturkiuulige Yergusti- 

 gingen, Haarlem, 1778, 4to. 



^ DoNATi (YiTAL.), Saggio della Storia naturale 

 marina dell'Adriatico, Yenezia, 1750, 4to. fig. French 

 translation : Essai sur I'Histoire Naturelle de la 

 mer Adriatique, La Haye, 17.58, 4to. fig. 



= Hughes (Griffith), The Natural History of 

 Barbados, London, 1750, fol. fig. — A letter con- 

 cerning a Zoophyton somewhat resembling the 

 Flower of Marigold, Phil. Trans. XLII. p. 590, fig. 



" Hill (.J.), A Natural History of Animals, 

 containing Descriptions of the Birds, Beasts, Fislies, 

 Insects, and of the several Classes of Animalcula 

 visible only by the assistance of microsco])es, Lon- 

 don, 1752, fol. fig. 



' Kalm (Peter), En Resa til Norra America, 



Stockholm, 175.3-17C1, 3 vols. 8vo. English trans- 

 lation : Travels in North America, containing its 

 Natural History, etc., transl. by J. R. Forster, 

 Warr. and Lond. 1770, 1771, 3 vols. 8vo. 



* PoNTOi'i'iDAN (Eric), Norviges Natural His- 

 toric, etc., Kiobenhavn, 1751-1753, 2 vols. 4to. fig. 

 English : The Natural History of Norway, Lon- 

 don, 1755, fol. 



" Borlase (Will.), The Natural History of 

 Cornwall, Oxford, 1758, fol. fig. 



'" Pallas (Peter Sijiox), Miscellanea Zoo- 

 logica, (juibus novas imprimis atque obscuras Ani- 

 malium species describuntur, etc., Hagas-Com., 17G6, 

 4to. fig. — Spicilegia Zoologica, Berolini, 17G7- 

 1780; 14 Fascic. 4to. fig.; German translation 

 by E. G. Baldinger : Naturgeschichte merkwiir- 

 diger Thiere, etc., Berlin, 1769-1778, 10 vols. 

 4to. tig. — Eleucluis Zoophytorum, sistens Generum 

 adumbrationi's generaliores et Specierum cognitarum 

 succinctas descriptiones, cum selectis auctorum Syno- 

 nymis, Ilaga'-Com., 17(j(), 8vo. 



'' Forskal (P')) Descriptiones Aniraalium, 

 Avium, Amphibiorum, Piscium, Insectorum, A^er- 

 niium, quaj in Itinere orientali observavit ; edidit 

 C. Niebuhr, Hafnia', 1775, 4to. — leones Rerum 

 naturalium quas in Itinere orientali depingi curavit; 

 ed. C. Niebulir, Hafniw, 1776, 4to. 



