GIRDLE OF VENUS. 37 



animate of their class. On one occasion this gentleman cut up a 

 Cydippe, that had been cast ashore in a shattered condition, into 

 portions so minute that one piece of skin had but two cilia re- 

 maining attached to it, yet the vibration of these organs continued 

 for nearly a couple of days afterwards. On another occasion he 

 tells us, a Medusa, about as large over as a sixpence, caught hold 

 of a Cydippe confined in the same glass with it, and when at 

 length the little creature had regained its liberty, it was found 

 that the Medusa had cut away a piece fully equal to a sixth of 

 the entire bulk of the body ; yet the Cydippe seemed quite un- 

 conscious of the mutilation, and evinced no diminution of its 

 activity or its enjoyment ! 



The same writer states that he once placed some specimens 

 of a species somewhat larger than the little Cydippe of which 

 we have been speaking, in a glass-jar on the chimney-piece, 

 and that their bodies were so transparent that the blossoms of 

 some flowers, which were also there, were distinctly seen through 

 them. " It was impossible," adds Mr. Patterson, " to look upon 

 these bright-tinted blossoms of earth, and on those colourless, 

 yet not less delicate children of ocean, and not feel that loth 

 must have enjoyed the guardianship of Him from whom all their 

 loveliness was derived ; that He who had for ages preserved the 

 flowers from perishing by frost, or wind, or rain, had likewise 

 saved the Beroe's from destruction amid the wild tempest of the 

 ocean." 



Another example of the Ciliograde Jelly-fish is the rare and beau- 

 tiful CestumVeneris, or Girdle of Venus, a resplendent creature 

 resembling a long flat ribbon of translucent glass, some five or six 

 feet in length, by about as many inches in width. The habits 

 of this remarkable animal are but little known, although its 

 affinity to the present group of Jelly-fish is clearly ascertained. 

 Its body is of a delicate gelatinous consistence throughout, and 

 is fringed at the margins with a double row of countless cilia, 

 which, as in the case of the Cydippe, produce when in motion 

 a succession of the most brilliant colours. At night the Cestum 

 is said to glow in the watery depths with peculiar splendour, 

 and to resemble, as it winds its way along, an undulating belt of 

 flame. 



In the Jelly-fish of the next section we meet with a peculiarity 

 of structure entirely new. The group is but a small one, and all 



