136 OUT OF DOORS. 



MEDUSA AND HER LOCKS. 



ALONG the sandy shores at low water may be seen in 

 the summer months numbers of round, flattish, gela- 

 tinous-looking bodies, scientifically called Medusae, 

 going popularly by the expressive though scarcely 

 euphemious titles of slobs, slobbers, stingers, and stan- 

 gers, and called jelly-fishes by the inland public, though 

 the creatures are not fishes at all, and have no jelly in 

 their composition. 



As these medusae lie on the beach they present any- 

 thing but agreeable spectacles to the casual observer, 

 and, as a general fact, rather excite disgust than 

 admiration ; and it is not until they are swimming in 

 the free enjoyment of liberty that they are viewed 

 with any degree of complacency by an unpractised eye. 

 Yet even in their present helpless and apparently lifeless 

 condition, sunken partially in the sand, and without a 

 movement to show that animation still holds its place 

 in the tissues, there is something worthy of observation, 

 and is by no means devoid of interest. 



In the first place be it noted that all the medusae 

 lie in their normal attitudes ; and in spite of their 

 apparently helpless nature, which causes them to be 



