THE GIRDLE OF VENUS. 209 



The Medusae have been divided into groups, and 

 distinguished according to their different organs of 

 locomotion. The common idea is that all jelly-fishes 

 are like mushrooms or miniature umbrellas. Such, 

 it is true, is their general form, but others abound 

 both in our own and in foreign seas, that possess a 

 totally different appearance. For instance, some 

 move by means of numerous cilia, or minute hairs 

 that are attached to various parts of their bodies. 

 By the exercise of these organs the creatures glide 

 through the water, and hence they are called cilio- 

 yrade Acalephce. 



One of the most remarkable examples of this class 

 is seen in the Girdle of Venus (Cesium veneris). 

 ' This creature is a large, flat, gelatinous riband, the 

 margins of which are fringed with innumerable cilia, 

 tinted with most lively irridescent colours during the 

 day, and emitting in the dark a phosphorescent light 

 of great brilliancy. In this animal, too, which some- 

 times attains the length of five or six feet, canals may 

 be traced running beneath each of the ciliated margins/ 



This animal, as it glides rapidly along, has the 

 appearance of an undulating riband of flame. Most 

 likely it is the species to which Coleridge alludes in 

 the following passage: 



'Beyond the shadow of the ship 

 I watched the water snakes 

 They moved in tracks of shining white, 

 And when they reared, the elfish light 

 Fell off in heavy flakes. 



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