SECOND YEAR AT PENIKESE. 69 



before us, let us try, through the medium of the 

 "dead languages," a little induction a posteriori, and 

 discover, if we can, what our specimen is really like. 

 So we procure the Greek and Latin lexicons, and be- 

 gin our work. With a little difficulty, we find that 

 our first hard name, ccelenterata, is derived from two 

 Greek w T ords, (koilos and enterori) signifying "hollow- 

 entrailed;" this then lets us into the characteristics of 

 the animals of the branch that is, their internal or- 

 gans are, in a great measure almost wholly wanting, 

 or, if present, of so simple a nature as to perform the 

 functions of digestion by means of a bag-like stom- 

 ach which digests principally by assimilation. Our 

 next word, hydrozoa, is quickly found; the "hydra" or 

 famous many-headed monster, or serpent slain by 

 Herclues, standing for the first part of the word; and 

 "zoon" (or zoon as it is often written), the Greek 

 word for an animal this gives us the key to our class 

 characteristics. The third word, siphoncphora, is still 

 more plain, being derived from almost identical Greek 

 words signifying a ''tube" or "siphon," and "I bear" 

 or "bearing." The word pJiysalia comes from a 

 Greek word, also very similar, which signifies "a 

 bubble." Arethusa was the name of a beautiful 

 nymph of Diana's: she was afterward changed into a 

 fountain. 



At first sight, the Portugese Man-of-War would put 

 one in mind, as the name suggests, of an immense 

 oblong, somewhat egg-shaped, bubble of air, with a 

 crest of wavey, wrinkled crenules, much thicker than 

 the surrounding parts, spanning its top and extend- 

 ing to its attenuated ends; the whole an iridescent or 

 burnished purple, with reflections of an hundred kin- 

 dred colors. But, while this delicately shaped and 

 gorgeously tinted little animal rides gracefully along 

 upon the top of the water, dancing merrily with its 

 ripples, we suddenly become aware of an hitherto 

 unseen dense bunch of what resembles a mass of sea- 

 weed, of fine, crinkled hairs and threads, some of 

 which extend far down into the water. We examine 



