GARDENS OF THE SEA 



189 



but free floating members of this branch. They 

 are usuall}^ bell-shaped or mushroom-domed, 

 with tentacles hanging down from underneath. 

 In the great Cyanea arctica the diameter is 

 often from three to five feet, and the tentacles 

 trailing down and away behind are several fath- 

 oms in length. This species has the power of 

 discharging from its tentacle cells the lasso, 

 which poisons whatever it touches and origin- 

 ally gave the family the name of " sea-nettles." 

 The majority of the jelly fish are not, however, 

 so large and are quite harmless, leading a drift- 

 ing, spineless, uneventful existence, swinging 

 with the waves like a submerged soap-bubble, 

 and showing always transparent hues of azure, 

 saffron, rose, and opal. 



There are many of the medusoid types, 

 widely divergent in form and color, and each 

 type admirably fitted for drifting, for assault 

 and defence, and for food gathering. The 

 Portuguese man-of-war that looks like a deli- 

 cate piece of Venetian glass, and the Venus 

 girdle (Cestus) with its winding silver-and- 

 azure ribbon of a body are the members of the 

 family usually illustrated in books and set forth 

 as types; and yet in every sea there are hosts 

 of these transparent creatures — curled, ringed, 

 belted, living necklaces with long pendants, 



Jelly 

 fishes. 



Sea-nettles. 



Medusoid 

 types. 



