138 OUT OF DOORS. 



Just below the upper and convex surface may be 

 seen four elliptical marks, arranged so as to form a 

 kind of Maltese cross, and differently coloured in the 

 various specimens, carmine, pink, or white. These 

 show the attachments of the curious organisation by 

 which food is taken into the system, and may be better 

 examined by taking up the creature and looking at its 

 under surface. 



Now take one of the medusae, choosing a specimen 

 that lies near low-water mark, and place it in a tolerably 

 large rock pool where the water is clear, and where it 

 can be watched for some time without the interruption 

 of the advancing tide. 



The apparently inanimate mass straightway becomes 

 instinc: with life, its disc contracts in places, and suc- 

 cessive undulations roll round its margin like the wind 

 waves on a cornfield. By degrees the movements be- 

 come more and more rhythmical, the creature begins 

 to pulsate throughout its whole substance, and before 

 very long it rights itself like a submerged life-boat, 

 and passes slowly and gracefully through the water, 

 throwing off a thousand iridescent tints from its surface, 

 and trailing after it the appendages which form the 

 Maltese cross above-mentioned, together with a vast 

 array of delicate fibres that take their origin from the 

 edge of the disc, or umbrella, as that wonderful organ 

 is popularly called. 



Words cannot express the exceeding beauty and 

 grace of the medusa, as it slowly pulsates its way 



