206 CTENOPHOR.^. Part II 



.seeming perpendicular to it, or bent more or lc8,s in the same direction, and again 

 as if combed into one mas.s ; but a moment afterwai'ds every thread seems to be 

 curled or waving, the main thread being straight or undulating ; then the shorter 

 threads will be stretched straight lor some distance and theii suddenly bent at 

 various angles ujwn themselves, and perhaps repeat such zigzags several times, or 

 they may be stretched in one direction and bent at various angles in the plane 

 of another direction ; then they may be coiled up from the tip and remain 

 hanging like pearls suspended by a delicate thread to the main stem, or like a 

 broken whip be bent in an acute angle upon themselves with as stiff an appearance 

 as if the whole were made up of wires ; and, to complete the wonder*, a part 

 of the length of the main thread will assume one appearance and another part 

 another, and pass from one into the other in the quickest jwssible succession : so 

 that I can truly say, I have not known in the animal kingdom an organism 

 exhibiting more sudden changes and presenting more diversified and beautiful 

 images, the action meanwhile being produced in such a way as hardly to be 

 understood. For, when expanded, these threads resemble rather a delicate fabric 

 spun Avith the finest spider's thread, at times brought close together, combed in 

 one direction without entangling, next stretched apart, and jireserving in this evo- 

 lution the most perfect parallelism among themselves, and at no time and under 

 no circumstances confusing the fringes of the two threads : they may cross each 

 other, they may be apparently entangled tlnoughout their length, Ijut let the animal 

 suddenly contract, and all these innumerable interwoven fringes unfold, contract, 

 and disappear, reduced as it were to one little dro^) of most elastic india-rul)ber. 

 Week after week I have preserved these animals alive, and have never been tired 

 of comparing again and again their changes in these thousand-fold developments 

 of their appendages. I have called together those who felt the slightest curiosity 

 for such olyects to witness these phencmiena, and have found them all interested 

 to the utmost ; and if I have any thing to regret, it is not the time lost in this 

 contemplation, — for the more I became familiar with the sight, the more was I 

 impressed with its beauty, as I could contrast Avith the ucav forms presenting them- 

 selves Ijefore my eyes those diflerent states Avith Avhich I had been familiar before, 

 — but the circumstance that the time Avas too short to trace such a connection 

 betAveen all the microscopic details of their structure and their functions, as Avould 

 fully explain the latter ; although I am aAvare that I have noticed many particulars 

 Avhicli had not been observed before. 



The chief difficulty in the comparative study of the different genera of this family 

 arises from the circumstance, that they move permanently in diffii^rent directions, 

 some having the mouth naturally turned upAvard and others doAVUAvard ; and that, 

 from not having perceived this difference, the parts placed in opposite positions 



