THK STAIl-FISII. 41 1 



round like u ball, shortly after flattens as thin m a ])Iate. All 

 of this kind are formed of a semi-transparent gelatinous sub- 

 stance, covered with a thin membrane, and to an inattentive 

 spectator often appear like a lump of inanimate jelly, floating at 

 random upon the surface of the sea, or tlu'own by chance on 

 shore at the departure of the tide.* But upon a more minute 

 inspection, they will be found possessed of life and motion ; 

 they will be found to shoot forth their arms in every direction, 

 in order to seize upon such insects as are near, and to devour 

 them with great rapacity. Worms, the spawn of fish, and even 

 muscles themselves, with their hard resisting shell, have been 

 found in the stomachs of these voracious animals ; and what is 

 very extraordinary, though the substance of their own bodies be 

 almost as soft as water, yet they are no way injured by swal- 

 lowing these shells, which are almost of a stony hardness. They 

 increase in size as all other animals do. In sununer, when the wa- 

 ter of the sea is warmed by the heat of the sun, they float upon 

 the surface, and in the dark they send forth a kind of shining 

 light resembling that of phosphorus. Some have given these ani- 

 mals the name of sea-nettles, because they burn the hands of those 

 that touch them, as nettles are found to do. They are often 

 seen fastened to the rocks, and to the largest sea-shells, as if to 

 derive their nourishment Irom them. II' they be taken and put 

 into s])irit of wine, they will continue lor many years entire ; 



* Our author li.is here confounded the acting, or 3ea anemones, witli 

 B'ar-fish animals considerably different in their forms as well as functions. 

 When we take a view of the lov/er orders of zooh)gy, we lind a large and 

 fingular set of beings, Avhii-li are so widely distinct from the other tribes of 

 the animal world, that they seem almost as nearly allied to vegetables as 

 animals. Many of these curious productions of nature are arranged by Lin. 

 naeus under the title of Mollusca ; which title is one of the subdivisious <if 

 the Linnaean tribe of worms. Of the various genera belonging to the niol. 

 lusca, or soft anijiials, that of the actinia is perhaps the most elegant and 

 curious. Many species of this genus have been called by the name of sea 

 anemones, from a general resemblance which they bear, during their ex- 

 panded state, to that flower. 



The Anemone ActAnia, though extremely common on several of the Euro- 

 pean coasts, and on our own in particular, does not seem distinctly men. 

 tioned by Linnaaus in the Systema Naturae. It adheres firmly to rocks, so 

 as to be frequently left above water at the ebbing of the sea ; but it is gene- 

 rally found adhering at some little depth below the surface of the water. 

 Its general colour is deep red, more or less vivid in difl'erent specimens. 



I'he Funnel Medusa is an elegant species of au o\al form, which is to b(> 

 found about the we,,-teru islands ot Jamaica. 



