310 EDWARD'S CLOSE OBSERVATION. CHAP. xv. 



pretty well up, and very widely apart, whereas the 

 inferior were always directed downwards. All the 

 legs were kept doubled up. I never saw them 

 stretched out. They would then sink once more to 

 the sand at the bottom. There they would rest some- 

 times for a few minutes, sometimes longer, when they 

 would again repeat their voluntary evolutions. They 

 did not, however, always rise to the surface. The 

 journey was sometimes performed to about mid-water. 

 They are, when alive, a most beautiful coloured 

 species, variegated not unlike Urothroe elegans, and 

 rivalling that animal in brightness of tints. I took 

 one, however, that was all over a most brilliant red. 

 I have been told that this species has never been 

 found outside the Medusa. However this may be, 

 all mine were. And what appears to be most extra- 

 ordinary is, that we have had no Medusae here this 

 season." Edward found another species, new to 

 Britain, Themisto Crassicornis, which exist in large 

 quantities in July, August, and September. Mr. 

 Bate says, " Mr. Edward informs us that he has seen 

 specimens of these Crustaceans thrown on shore in 

 extraordinarily large quantities. After a storm one 

 night he saw them forming a band an inch and a 

 half deep for thirty yards along the beach." * 



Mr. Bate so much admired Edward's enthusiasm 

 in the cause of Natural History, that he more than 



* History of the British Sessile-eyed Crustacea. By C. Spence 

 Bate and J. 0. Westwood. Vol. ii. pp. 625-6. 



