THE MEDUSA. 



117 



Medusse are animals without much consistence, containing much water, so that we can 

 scarcely comprehend how they resist the agitation of the waves and the force of the currents ; 

 the waves, however, float without hurting them, the tempest scatters without killing them. 

 When the sea retires, or they are withdrawn from their native waters, their substance 

 dissolves, the animal is decomposed, they are reduced to nothing ; if the sun is strong 

 this disorganisation occurs in the twinkling of an eye, so to speak." If they are touched 

 ever so lightly while swimming, they contract their tentacula, fold up their umbrella, and 

 sink into the depths of the sea. At 

 one period of the year the Medusae are 

 charged with numbers of minute eggs, 

 which are suspended in festoons 

 crystalline roes they might be termed 

 from their bodies, and which in due 

 time become living organisms. 



After all, it is to the poets we 

 must go if we would describe the 

 beauties of Nature aright. Michelet, 

 speaking of the Medusa, says : 

 " Why was this name, of terrible 

 associations, given to a creature so 

 charming ? Often have I had my 

 attention arrested by these castaways, 

 which we see so often on the shore. 

 They are small, about the size of my 

 hand, but singularly pretty, of soft 

 light shades, of an opal-white, where 

 it lost itself as in a cloud of tentacles ; 

 a crown of tender lilies the wind had 

 overturned it; its crown of lilac hair 

 floated about, and the delicate umbel, 

 that is, its body proper, was beneath ; 

 it had touched the rock dashed against it; it was wounded, torn in its fine locks, which 



are also its organs of respiration, absorption, and even of love The delicious 



creature, with its visible innocence and the iridescence of its soft colours, was left like 

 a gliding, trembling jelly. I paused beside it, nevertheless; I glided my hand under it, 

 raised the motionless body cautiously, and restored it to its natural position for swimming. 

 Putting it in the neighbouring water, it sank to the bottom, giving no sign of life. I 

 pursued my walk along the shore, but at the end of ten minutes I returned to my Medusa. 

 It was undulating under the wind; it had really moved itself, and was swimming about 

 with singular grace, its hair flying round it as it swam; gently it retired from the rock, 

 not quickly, but still it went, and I soon saw it a long way off." 



The Medusae are found in all seas, and usually inhabit the depths, although often seen on 

 the surface. They voyage usually in considerable battalions, and sometimes cover miles and 



PRAYA DIPHYES. 



