HALF AN HOUR WITH JELLY-FISH. 105 



VII. 



HALF AN HOUR WITH JELLY-FISH. 



THERE are few sea-side visitors wlio are not ac- 

 quainted with the unshapely and unsightly masses 

 of jelly-looking substances occasionally strewn on 

 the beach. Let the sea be unusually rough for a 

 day or a night, and these objects will be met with 

 more abundantly than sensitive eyes care to behold. 

 When seen under these disadvantageous circum- 

 stances, however, it should be remembered that 

 everything tells against them. It is not to be 

 expected that creatures so loosely constructed as 

 these jelly-fish actually are, should assume graceful 

 and elegant shapes anywhere but in water, where 

 their parts could present their natural appearances. 

 Accordingly a person judging of jelly-fish by stranded 

 specimens would be as far from forming an idea of 

 their elegant outlines when alive in the sea, as if he 

 had never seen such objects at all. Let him take a 

 boat, and on a clear, sunny day, when the water 

 is stiller than usual, amuse himself at a short 

 distance from land, by gazing over its sides into the 

 green depths below. Presently he may see one of 

 our common jelly-fish come swimming by, its 

 umbrella-like disk looking like a creature built of 

 the most transparent glass, and its movements in 



