206 SEASIDE DIVINITY. 



put together, and filled with a transparent fluid, 

 and that these cells are arranged in a peculiar man- 

 ner in the various families and genera into which 

 these animals are subdivided. Thus they are 

 either four in number, or some multiple of four, 

 and are placed in a certain relation to the centre 

 of the creature's body in which they are arranged. 

 Considerable variety, too, exists in the organ in 

 these animals for the reception and assimilation 

 of food. In some the arms which hang down 

 from the central disk have at their extremities a 

 multitude of pores. These are the mouths by 

 which animalculse or the juices of decayed animal 

 substances are imbibed. In another species the 

 food, consisting of fishes and Crustacea, is re- 

 ceived into a single mouth furnished with four 

 lips. 



Those visitors of the sea-shore who indulge in 

 the pleasures of boating must frequently have 

 observed and admired the frail but beautiful 

 creatures we are speaking of, and beheld with 

 delight their graceful movements as they impelled 

 themselves through the water, by the alternate 

 contraction and expansion of their umbrella-like 

 bodies: now mounting through the clear water 

 to the surface, now descending slowly downwards 

 to the depths below, though at first sight their 

 apparent want of power seems to make them the 

 sport of every wave and current. 



The order of the Acalephae comprehends a 

 great variety of species in addition to those 

 already pointed out. Some are so minute as to 



