30 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGT. 



Order Acaleph^, or Sea-Nettles. 



" Awhile to wait upon the firm fair sand, 

 When all is calm at sea, all still at land ; 

 And these the ocean's produce to explore, 

 As floating by, or rolliiifc on the shore; 

 Tliose living jellies whicli the flesh inflame, 

 Fierce as a nettle and from that its name; 

 Some in huge masses, some that you may bring 

 In the small compass of a lady's ring; 

 Figured by hand Divine — there's not a gem 

 Wrought by man's art to be compared to them; 

 Soft, brilliant, tender, through the wave they glow, 

 And make the moonbeam brighter where they flow." — CnAnnE- 



There is mnch in the structure of these creatures to excite 



our surprise. Their 

 frail and gelatinous 

 bodies {Fig. 1 7) seem 

 little else than a mass 

 of vivified sea-water, 

 or some analogous 

 fluid; "For," says 

 Professor Owen, * 

 "let this fluid part of 

 a large Medusa, which 

 may weigh two 

 pounds when recently 

 removed from the 

 sea, drain from the 

 solid parts of the 

 body, and these, when 

 dried, will be repre- 

 sented by a thin film 

 of membrane, not ex- 

 ceeding thirty grains 

 in weight." They 

 baffle the skill of the 

 Fig. 17.— Pelagia. anatomist by the very 



simplicity of their stnicture. Feeble as they appear, fishes 



• Lectures on the Anatomy of the Invertebrate Animals, p. 102. 

 It is to this work we refer in cases where we merely give the name of 

 its distinguished author, without special mention of some one of his other 

 niunerous contributions to science. 



