HALF AN HOUR WITH JELLY-FISH*.- 115 



time we should go into raptures about the crystal 

 globe, the eight costal bands of cilia, the long re- 

 tractile tentacles, and a dozen other things ! We 

 can only remark that the learned have a grand 

 dispute about the situation of her mouth. Season- 

 ing from analogy, one might expect that the mouth 

 would be situated between the tentacles at the lower 

 pole of the globe ; but Nature has thought proper 

 to place the ' buccal ' orifice at the upper, and not 

 at the lower extremity." And yet this beautiful 

 object is only about half an inch in diameter. 

 Locomotion is effected by the eight ciliated bands 

 above mentioned, each of which moves in wavy 

 undulatations, producing by the movement the most 

 exquisite prismatic effect. The long tentacles are 

 capable of coiling and uncoiling themselves, or can 

 even be withdrawn into the body at pleasure. So 

 transparent is this pretty creature, that it would 

 sometimes not be seen in the water, except for the 

 flashes of iridiscent light it throws off. It is in its 

 digestive apparatus that the Gydippe is more nearly 

 allied to the sea-anemones than to the true jelly- 

 fish. 



The Lucernaria is a dark liver-coloured object, 

 found adhering to rocks, and, in a hurry, might 

 easily be mistaken for a peculiar sea-anemone. It 

 is, however, nearly allied to the medusae, and 

 especially to that stage in their existence known as 

 the Hydra tuba. It is not uncommon in our seas, 

 and, when once pointed out, is an object not to 



