32 JELLY-FISHES. 



usual mode of increase, as will be explained further on, is by means 

 of eggs or ciliated gemmules ; nevertheless, there are some of 

 them which, like the hydra, are propagated by offshoots that 

 spring as buds from various parts of the body, with which they 

 remain connected, like branches issuing from a plant. " Fancy/' 

 says Professor Forbes, " an elephant with a number of little ele- 

 phants 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. 

 FIG. 25,-THAUMANTiAs. The comparison may seem grotesque and ab- 

 surd, but it really expresses what continually 

 occurs among these Medusae.* It is true that the latter are 

 minute ; but wonders are not the less wonderful for being packed 

 in a small compass. A whale is not above a minnow for his mere 

 bigness." 



It was, doubtless, a brave attempt of the adventurer who first 

 dared to trust himself in a boat upon the surface of the ocean ; 

 neither is it difficult to imagine the trembling confidence with 

 which he framed his rude bark, and hoisted the rough sail of mat 

 or canvas to the favouring breeze, following the course of some 

 great river the Euphrates or the Tigris till he reached the sea, 

 vaunting himself upon his ingenuity ; and yet, to his astonish- 

 ment, he must have found, dancing before him on the sun-lit wave, 

 a boat, far more beautiful than that he had contrived, with mast, 

 and sail, and ballast, all complete. 



The Sallee-man (Vddla\ scaphoidai], as it is prettily named in Latin, consists 



of a transparent disk of purest jelly, 

 supported by a delicate plate of firmer 

 texture, lodged in its interior ; upon its 

 upper surface there is raised a mast a 

 thin, broad film of cartilage, on which 

 is spread a sail worthy to waft along a 

 fairy queen; while from beneath hang 

 polype-like appendages, that fish for 

 food. To perfect so beautiful a con- 

 trivance, in Ralaria, a kindred species, 

 FIG. 26. VELELLA. the crest is found to contain fibrous 



* The Acalephs are frequently called "Medusa," their stinging appendages being 

 compared to the snakes on Medusa's head, f Velella, a little sail; scaphoidea, like a boat. 



