156 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



of these develop to the point where the four radi- 

 ating canals are discernible and then their growth 

 comes to a standstill, and they never attain the 

 freedom for which their structure fits them. 



When the wind blew inshore, I would often find 

 the water fairly alive with large sun-jellies or 

 Aurelia^ — their Latin name. Their great milky- 

 white bodies would come heaving along and bump 

 against me, giving a very "crawly" sensation. 

 The circle of short tentacles and the four horse- 

 shoe-shaped ovaries distinguish this jelly-fish 

 from all others. When I had gone down as far 

 as I dared, I would sometimes catch glimpses of 

 these strange beings far below me, passing and 

 repassing in the silence and icy coldness of the 

 watery depths. These large medusa? are often 

 very abundant after a favourable wind has blown 

 for a few days, and I have rowed through masses 

 of them so thick that it seemed like rowing through 

 thick jelly, two or three feet deep. In an area the 

 length of the boat and about a yard wide, I have 

 counted over one hundred and fifty Aurelias on 

 the surface alone. 



When one of these "sun-fish," as the fishermen 

 call them, is lifted from the water, the clay- 

 coloured eggs may be seen to stream from it in 

 myriads. In many jellies, small bodies the size of 

 a pea are visible in the interior of the mass, and 

 when extracted they prove to be a species of small 

 shrimp. These are well adapted for their quasi- 



