564 THE CHRYSAORA. 



DISC-BEARERS; DISCOPHORA. 



WE now come to a very large order of acalephs, including all those beings which are so 

 familiar under the title of JELLY FISHES, SLOBBERS, and similar euphonious names. They 

 are all united under the name of Discophora, or disc-bearers, because they are furnished with 

 a large umbrella-like disc, by means of which they are enabled to proceed through the water. 



Each order is separated into several tribes, the first of which is termed Gymnophthalmata, 

 or Naked -eyed Medusae, because the little ocelli, or eye-specks, are either uncovered or alto- 

 gether absent. The edge is either simple or branched. The name of Medusae is given to these 

 creatures on account of the long trailing filaments which depend from them like the snaky 

 locks of Medusa from her head. In the Naked-eyed Medusae, the circulating vessels may be 

 seen radiating to the edge either simple or branched. 



A good example of the family Sarsiadae is the Sarsia tubulosa. This family contains 

 several genera. All the Sarsiae are pretty little creatures, and may be known by the four 

 simple nutritive vessels and the egg-tubes placed in the footstalk. In this genus the umbrella 

 is nearly hemispherical, and there are four tentacles set at the ends of the radiating vessels. 



Though small, the Sarsiae are interesting to the naturalist, on account of the curious 

 method by which the young are produced, sprouting like buds from the footstalk, and pre- 

 senting a very strange aspect as they project in different stages of development. In their first 

 stage, the young Sarsiae are nothing more than simple prominences upon the surface of the 

 footstalk, and gradually increase in size, developing first one part and then another, until at 

 last the little creatures are quite perfect, shake themselves free from the parent, and com- 

 mence an independent existence. 



There is a curious species of this genus, Sarsia prolifera, in which the base of every ten- 

 tacle is supplied with a little bunch of young Medusae, some just making their first appearance 

 as mere lumps of gelatinous substance, some half -grown, and others nearly ready to free them- 

 selves from the parent stock. 



THE members of the next family are known by their flattened discs and the egg-tubes 

 running linearly along the vessels. The Eudora undulosa is a prominent species of this 

 family. It is a rather curious creature which is devoid of footstalks and appendages, and has 

 a disc almost as flat as a biscuit. In the pretty JEquorea cyanea the disc is rather more con- 

 vex than in the preceding genus, the footstalk is very wide and expands into many lobes, with 

 long and broad fringes ; and the tentacles are very slender and variable in number. The 

 present species inhabits the South seas. 



A REALLY fine creature is the Chrysaora lutea. It belongs to the next tribe of the order, 

 wherein the eye-specks are covered by certain flaps, and the circulating vessels united into a 

 kind of network. This tribe is further divided into two families, in the first of which, the 

 true Medusae, solid food is received into a mouth ; and in the second, there is no mouth, but 

 nourishment is absorbed through the ends of branching vessels. 



The CHRYSAORA belongs to the first of these families, and may be recognized by the long 

 unfringed but furbelowed arms. A flue species belonging to this genus, CJirysaora cyclo- 

 nota, was kept for some time by Mr. Gosse, and has afforded many useful hints to the students 

 of Natural History. Experiments were made for the purpose of ascertaining the method of 

 obtaining food, and it was discovered that the furbelowed arms as well as the tentacles are 

 used for catching prey. A dead white-bait was first given to the Medusn, and, after having 

 been caught by the tentacles and furbelows, was delivered to the former organs, the latter 

 relinquishing their hold. Very gradually it was shifted towards the mouth of the footstalk, 

 and there held for about an hour, when it was released and fell to the bottom of the vessel. 



Thinking that the fish might have been too large a morsel for the Medusa, the experi- 

 menter next supplied the animal with a small piece of cooked meat. This was seized as the 

 fish had been, and during the course of the night was conveyed into one of the four cavities 



