ACALEPHJS. 213 



and the base extends itself as a disk. At the same time that the first 

 rudiments of the polyp appear, the disk-like tubercle throws out on 

 its flanks a sort of bud, and a second polyp soon shows itself; its 

 surface is hardened; the polyp appears in its turn, and the same 

 process of generation is repeated; a colony of Sertulariadde is thus 

 established at the summit of a discoid projection. At the end of fifteen 

 days the colony, which has been forming under our eyes, consists of 

 two polyps and a bud, which already indicates a third polyp. The sea- 

 cypress, as this species is called, is robust, with longish branches de- 

 cidedly fan-shaped, the pinnae being closer and nearly parallel to each 

 other. The cells form two rows, nearly opposite, smooth and pellucid. 

 The branches in some specimens are gracefully arched, bending as it 

 were under the load of pregnant ovaries which they carry, arranged in 

 close-set rows along the upper side of the pinnae. They are found in 

 deep water on the coast of Scotland, and as far south as the Yorkshire 

 coast and the north of Ireland. The cells, which are the abode of the 

 polyps, are not always alike in their distribution. Sometimes they 

 are ranged on two sides, sometimes on one only. Sometimes they are 

 grouped like the small tubes of an organ, at other times they assume a 

 spiral form round the stem, or they form here and there horizontal 

 rings round it." 



The Medusae comprehend, not only the animals so designated in 

 the days of Cuvier under that name, but also the polyps known as 

 Tubular iadte and Campanulariadas. 



If we walk along the sea shore, after the reflux of the tide, we 

 may often see, lying immovable upon the sands, disk-like, gelatinous 

 masses of a greenish colour and repulsive appearance, from which the 

 eye and the steps instinctively turn aside. These beings, whose 

 blubber-like appearance inspires only feelings of disgust when seen 

 lying grey and dead on the shore, are, however, when seen floating on 

 the bosom of the ocean, one of its most graceful ornaments. These 

 are Medusae. When seen suspended like a piece of gauze or an azure 

 bell in the middle of the waves, terminating in delicate silvery garlands, 

 we cannot but admire their iridescent colours, or deny that these 

 objects, so forbidding in some of their aspects, rank, in their natural 



