40 HYDROZOA. 



and a very terrific one too. Yet is this ferocious creature one of 

 the most delicate inhabitants of the ocean, and a very model of ten- 

 derness and elegance. PROF. FOKBES. 



In many species, as in that represented in Fig. 25. 

 the margin of the transparent disk is fringed with 

 short and slender tentacles, each of which springs 

 from a fleshy bulb, wherein is set a speck of deep 

 purple colour, thought to be an eye, giving an ap- 

 pearance as though the body was surrounded with 

 a circlet of gems. On taking it into a dark room 

 and striking the glass, every purple eye becomes 

 lighted into a phosphoric flame, and again and again 

 the crown of light may be made to flash forth, but 

 less brilliantly than at first, until at length each tiny 

 lamp, after sparkling for a moment, wanes, and all 

 is dark again ; and at last it refuses to shine any 

 more. 



These bell-shaped Acalephs are ex- 

 ceedingly prolific. Their usual mode 

 of increase, as will be explained 

 further on, is by means of eggs, or cili- 

 ated gemmules ; nevertheless, there 

 are some of them which, like the 

 Hydra, are propagated by offshoots FIG. 25. FIGURE OF 

 that spring as buds from various parts 

 of the body, with which they remain connected like 

 branches issuing from a plant. " Fancy," says Pro- 

 fessor Forbes, " an elephant with a number of little 

 elephants sprouting from his shoulders, bunches of 

 tusked monsters hanging, epaulette-fashion, from his 

 flanks, in every stage of advancement. On his right 

 shoulder, a youthful chuny, with head, trunk, toes, 

 no legs, and a shapeless body ; on the left, an infant 

 elephant, better grown, and struggling to get away, 

 but as yet fast by the tail, and incapable of liberty 

 and free action. The comparison may seem grotesque 

 and absurd, but it really expresses what continually 

 occurs among these Medusae.* It is true that the 



* The Acalephs are frequently called " Medusse," their stinging 

 appendages being compared to the snakes on Medusa's head. 



