A RAPACIOUS LITTLE DEMOCRAT. 35 



brightest coral." The rapacious little democrat before alluded 

 to, Sarsia tubulosa, is also one of the naked-eyed fraternity, and 

 is not without its beauty. But the very pink of perfection in 

 that line is a little fellow, Modeeria formosa, found around the 

 Hebrides, and which, though scarcely larger than a split pea, ap- 

 pears to have gone a great way towards turning the head of the 

 worthy Professor who chronicles its discovery. It is, without 

 question, a beautiful creature ; but whether its beauty is best 

 indicated by saying that " it is gorgeous enough to be the diadem 

 of the smallest of sea-fairies, and sufficiently graceful to be the 

 nightcap of the tiniest and prettiest of mermaids," may admit 

 of a doubt ; although assuredly the enthusiastic Professor may 

 be allowed to describe his own discoveries in his own style. 



One of the commonest and most characteristic of the Jelly-fish 

 of the next section those, namely, which make their way in the 

 world by means of cilia, and are hence known as ciliogrades~ 

 is the Cydippe pileus, a gay and active little creature, and a 

 great favourite with naturalists, who have appropriately named 

 it after one of the sea-nymphs of old. It is impossible to watch 

 this graceful little rover without being struck with admiration 

 at the vivacity and sprightliness of its movements. Of a glo- 

 bular, but slightly elongated form, and about the size of a large 

 bead, the Cydippe dances gaily through the water, its delicate 

 gelatinous body, faintly blue in colour, glistening in the sun, 

 while the rapid play of its cilia scatters the rays of light in 

 lovely rainbow tints about its path. The apparatus by means 

 of which the Cydippe thus speeds its way along, circled with 

 glory, consists of rows of minute cilia, arranged side by side, 

 in the form of broad flat plates, upon eight firm bands, which 

 run from pole to pole of its body, like the meridian lines of a 

 globe. Each of these bands, with its thirty or forty rows of 

 cilia, one above the other, has an appearance something like 

 that of the paddle-wheel of a steam-boat ; but, unlike what is 

 seen in that cumbrous contrivance of man, locomotion is effected, 

 not by the revolution of the wheel, but by the separate motion 

 of each of the paddles. Every one of these delicate organs is 

 endowed, in fact, with the property of separate and independent 

 motion, and over the whole of them the little Jelly-fish has the 

 most complete control. It can retard or stop their movements 

 at pleasure, and by arresting the play of one or more rows, 



