JELLY FISH. 205 



marvellous skill and wisdom from which organised 

 beings proceed, as fully as the structure of bodies 

 greatly more complex. The property of emitting 

 light which many of the acalephse possess the 

 power of stinging seated even in the finest of 

 their thread-like tentacula, and the wonderful 

 digestive powers by which their stomachs quickly 

 dissolve fish and even Crustacea, all afford matter 

 of surprise, and when the simplicity of their 

 structure is considered furnish problems, both in 

 chemistry and anatomy, which it requires the 

 highest skill to examine and the greatest genius 

 to solve. On this subject an excellent writer 

 thus expresses himself: " Our admiration of the 

 various functions performed by the acalephse is 

 much increased when we reflect upon the ex- 

 tremely small quantity of solid matter which 

 enters into their composition. This fact admits of 

 easy illustration. On one occasion I took a dead 

 cydippe, and placing it on a piece of glass- ex- 

 posed it to the sun. As the moisture evaporated 

 the different parts appeared as if confusedly 

 painted on the glass, and when it was become 

 perfectly dry, a touch removed the only vestiges 

 of what had been so lately a graceful and animated 

 being." 



Although the mode by which the organisation 

 of the jelly-fish enables it to perform the func- 

 tions now referred to is in a great measure mys- 

 terious, yet that organisation itself is in some 

 degree understood. It appears that the body of 

 the animal is composed of large cells, accurately 



