742 



CYDIPPE. 



bodies are furnished with rows of flattened cilia, set in rows above each other something 

 like the teeth of a comb. There are many members of this beautiful order to be found in 

 our seas, of which the common CYDIPPE is an excellent example. 



This lovely creature may easily be captured by the simple process of towing a gauze 

 net over the side of a sailing-boat. When removed from the water the net will be found 

 studded with variously-sized knobs of transparent gelatine, not particularly attractive, and 

 presenting no salient points whatever. Let, however, these apparently inanimate lumps 

 of jelly be transferred to a vessel filled with sea-water, and then how different is their 

 aspect ! 



Until the eye is accustomed to their shapes, they are not very easily seen, owing to 

 their transparency and the similarity between their refractive powers and those of the 

 water. I have often noticed persons looking at my glass jars without discovering that a 

 single living creature was within them, though each jar was tenanted by two or three of 

 these beautiful creatures. 



By degrees, however, they become plainly visible, the chief points of attraction being 



the eight bands of ever-moving 

 cilia that are drawn longitudinally 

 over the body, and by means of 

 which the creature performs its 

 wonderful evolutions. The Cy- 

 dippe is never still, biit careers 

 through the water with ceaseless 

 movement, sometimes rising and 

 falling in one spot, sometimes 

 rolling over and over, sometimes 

 spinning on its longer axis, but 

 mostly pursuing a partly spiral 

 course, turning slowly on itself as 

 it proceeds through the water. 



During these movements, a 

 faint iridescence plays over the 

 whole body of the Cydippe, but 

 its chief glories are concentrated 

 upon the bands of cilia which 

 are drawn over the body. On 

 these the colours are too brilliant, 

 idrsiu tuintinsu. wiiisia. steiiata. Cydippe pticus. and yet evanescent, for desciip- 



Dipkyes campanuujera. tion. Miniature rainbows seem 



to ripple along these living belts ; 

 and as the Cydippe glides grace- 

 fully along, it appears to be en- 

 circled with many diadems of self -illumined jewelry. If examined by the microscope, 

 the cilise of which the locomotive bands are composed are seen to bear some resemblance 

 to very narrow Venetian blinds, each lath closing or opening in regular succession. 



Pendent from the body are further seen two long filaments, to which are attached a 

 number of shorter and still finer threads, not unlike the hooks and snoods on a deep sea- 

 line, and used, indeed, for a similar purpose. The Cydippe can protrude or retract these 

 tentacles at will, and is continually throwing them out from the body or drawing them 

 back again, so that they never seem to be exactly the same length, one being often three 

 or four times as long as the other. The manner in which these tentacles trail after the 

 creature is extremely graceful, and the observer cannot resist a feeling of wonder that they 

 should avoid entanglement. 



The tentacles are employed for the purpose of catching prey, the Cydippe having been 

 observed in tne very act of seizing and eating its food. The long threads arrested the 

 object as soon as touched, and in a very short time they were drawn to the central mouth, 

 and the prey safely lodged within. The smaller crustaceans appear to be the favourite 



