106 HALF AN HOUR WITH JELLY-FISH. 



the water, effected by its rythmical contractions 

 and expansions, of the most graceful character, 

 catching the light here and there on its surface, and 

 reflecting it to the eye in iridiscent flashes. Once 

 seen in their native element, jelly-fish cannot fail to 

 be appreciated ever afterwards. 



The natural history of these animals is perhaps 

 more interesting than that of any other group so 

 lowly organised. We have already referred to the 

 connection of some species of jelly-fish with the 

 corallines, and endeavoured to show that many of 

 them are nothing more than the free-swimming 

 buds of the latter. One species after another of 

 jelly-fish, as their habits and origin have thus been 

 more closely studied, has accordingly been withdrawn 

 from the position in which it had been placed, and 

 classed as the young of corallines. The whole of the 

 sub-class DiscopJwra, or Medusidde, is regarded as 

 questionable on this account ; for, if there exist some 

 of its members which at present appear to be medusae, 

 a further study may possibly relegate them to the 

 same place as their brethren. From this our readers 

 will get some idea of the muddle into which the 

 technical study of these animals has been thrown, 

 and it is not possible to get two text-books of 

 zoology which give the same information concerning 

 them. 



One of the commonest of our jelly-fishes, to be 

 found in most of our British harbours and at the 

 mouths of our tidal rivers, is the crimson-ringed 



