JELLY FISHES VAKIETY AND BEATITY. 117 



Ilalistemnia rubrum, there are at least sixty swimming 

 bells, the chief stem being six or seven inches in length. 

 The float is not more than a quarter of an inch long ; the 

 fishing-threads are about six or seven inches in length, 

 and the mass of tentacles, capsules, and other organs is 

 so great and so beautifully disposed, that the creature has 

 been happily compared to a garland of transparent flowers 

 endowed with life. 



The details of construction which have been discovered 

 in the Physophores are wonderfully beautiful, but our 

 limited space will not allow of their description. 



On our own coasts may be plentifully found several 

 species of another group of thread-bearing jelly fishes. 

 They move rapidly through the water, but by means of 

 a paddle-like apparatus, and not by pulsating bells. On 

 account of their shape they are popularly called Sea 

 Acorns, and scientifically are known by the name of 

 Cydippe or Beroe. 



The species which is most commonly seen on our coasts 

 is, when full grown, about as large as an ordinary acorn, 

 and when taken out of the water looks just like a shape- 

 less lump of translucent jelly. When placed in water it 

 instantly vanishes, just as has been related of the previous 

 species, and at first nothing can be seen of it except an 

 occasional gleam of coloured light. 



After a little while it becomes more distinctly visible, 

 and then looks as if it were made of smooth glass, with 

 slight bands traversing it from end to end, like the lines 

 of longitude on a globe. Along these bands, and always 



