ACALEPILE. 215 



solid substance. Their bodies are little else tban water, which is 

 scarcely retained by an imperceptible organic network ; it is a trans- 

 parent jelly, almost without consistence. " It is a true sea-water jelly,' 

 says Beaumur, writing in 1701, "having little colour or consistence. 

 If we take a morsel in our hands, the natural heat is sufficient to 

 dissolve it into water." 



Spallanzani could only withdraw five or six grains of the pellicle 

 of a medusa weighing fifty ounces. From certain specimens weighing 

 from ten to twelve pounds, only six to seven pennyweights could be 

 obtained of solid matter, according to Fredol. " Mr. Telfair saw an 

 enormous medusa which had been abandoned on the beach at Bombay ; 

 three days after, the animal began to putrefy. To satisfy his curiosity, 

 he got the neighbouring boatmen to keep an eye upon it, in order to 

 gather the bones and cartilages belonging to the great creature, if by 

 chance it had any ; but its decomposition was so rapid and complete 

 that it left no remains, although it required nine months to dissipate 

 it entirely." 



" Floating on the bosom of the waters," says Fredol, " the Medusa 

 resembles a bell, a pair of breeches, an umbrella, or, better still, a 

 floating mushroom, the stool of which has here been separated into 

 lobes more or less divergent, sinuous, twisted, shrivelled, fringed, the 

 edges of the cap being delicately cut, and provided with long thread- 

 like appendages, which descend vertically into the water like the 

 drooping branches of the weeping willow." 



The gelatinous substance of which the body of the Medusa is formed 

 is sometimes colourless and limpid as crystal ; sometimes it is opaline, 

 and occasionally of a bright blue or pale rose colour. In certain species 

 the central parts are of a lively red, blue, or violet colour, while the 

 rest of the body is of a diaphanous hue. This diaphanous tissue, often 

 decked in the finest tints, is so fragile, that when abandoned by the 

 wave on the beach, it melts and disappears without leaving a trace of 

 its having existed, so to speak. 



Nevertheless, these fragile creatures, these living soap-bubbles, 

 make long voyages on the surface of the sea. "Whilst the sun's rays 

 suffice to dissipate and even annihilate its vaporous substance on some 

 inhospitable beach, they abandon themselves witnout fear during their 

 entire life to the agitated waves. The whales which haunt round the 

 Hebrides are chiefly nourished by Medusae which have been trans- 



