270 



Fig. k60. 



SUBKIKGDOM CCELENTEEATA. 



surface of the body-wall. Interspers- 

 ing the tentacles and other parts of 

 the body are cells containing long, 

 spirally-coiled threads, barbed and 

 serrated, which dart forth with incon- 

 ceivable velocity to lasso their prey.* 



Fig. 



Lasso. 



Pelagla cyanetta, Jelly-fish. 



The Discophorae (disc-bearers) 

 include those Jelly-fishes with an 

 umbrella-like disc, by the contraction 

 of which the water is expelled and 

 swimming effected. Some of this 

 family measure seven feet in diam- 

 eter, with tentacles a hundred feet in 



* They are the terror of bathers, as the pain in- 

 flicted by the lash of their envenomed filaments is 

 exceedingly deranging to the whole nervous sys- 

 tem, though at first seeming to be no more than 

 the tingling sensation of the common stinging nettle. 



