312 Mr.C. Collingwood on Oceanic Forms of Hydrozoa. 
either perfectly transparent or tinged with pink. They would 
bear being taken up carefully in a hand-net and placed in a 
basin of sea-water, but, when there, became absolutely invisible 
from their transparency and delicacy, and, when touched, would 
break asunder into transparent, gelatinous, star-like bodies; so 
that I was of despair at getting even a sketch of their compli- 
cated forms, for they soon melted away into shapeless masses. 
I endeavoured to preserve some in glycerine, but without suc- 
cess, for they immediately fell to pieces and dissolved. These 
bodies were solid to the touch, about 3 inches long, and appeared 
to be formed by the union of gelatinous bodies (swimming-bells) 
of very complex form, and dissimilar at different parts of their 
length, so that the diameter of one-third was greater than that 
of the other two-thirds. I was much disappointed at my un- 
successful attempts to keep some record of them; but their 
invisibility, their fragility, and the approach of evening ren- 
dered all my attempts at that time futile ; and although I might 
have succeeded better if I had had another opportunity, I never 
saw anything like them again. 
But the circumstance to be especially remarked is that during 
all the time these curious animals were floating by, it was rain- 
ing pretty hard—a condition which, @ priori, would have been 
supposed the most unfavourable for them; for the destructive- 
ness of fresh water to delicate marine animals is well known. 
Whence, too, could they have come in such profusion? And if 
the surface of the sea is their natural habitat, why are they not 
more frequently seen ? 
With regard to the Hydrozoa of the order Lucernaride (the 
covered-eyed Medusz of Forbes), on the comparatively few oc- 
casions when they appear upon the surface, they are usually in 
great abundance, and not in great variety. Thus in the upper 
part of the Red Sea, on the 10th of March, a species of Aurelia 
appeared in great numbers; and two days after, we passed 
through a shoal of Rhizostomas. Four days later, in the Gulf 
of Aden, we again encountered shoals of Aurelia, apparently 
identical with those of the Red Sea, the two shoals being sepa- 
rated by about 1400 miles. Again, in October we passed, on 
the west coast of Borneo, off Cape Santubon, through a number 
of magnificent Pulmogrades. The upper part of the umbrella 
was pilose, with long papille; the periphery was fringed with 
long tentacles, and the pedicels gave rise to magnificent grape- 
like masses, the whole being of a delicate white colour, and 
fully 18 inches in diameter. In the following month, in the 
strait which separates the island of Singapore from the Malay 
peninsula, I observed a great number of the same beautiful 
Pelagian, and accompanying it some specimens of a small and 
