THE VENOMOUS CYAN^A. 



745 



The latter were now put to a new use ; the animal began habitually to rest near the 

 bottom of the vessel or upon the broad fronds of the Iridcea, which were growing in the 

 water and preserving its purity, but oc- 

 casionally it would rise midway to the surface 

 and hang by one or two of the furbelows. A 

 fold or two of the latter would come to the 

 top of the water, and dilate upon the surface 

 into a broad flat expansion, exactly like the 

 foot of a swimming mollusc ; from this the 

 Medusa would hang suspended in an inverted 

 position. All the other furbelows, and por- 

 tions of this one that lay below the expan- 

 sion, floated as usual through the water, except 

 that on some occasions an accessory power was 

 obtained by pressing a portion of another 

 furbelow to the side of the glass and making 

 it adhere just like the portion that was ex- 

 posed to the surface of the air. The texture 

 of the furbelows when thus stretched smooth 

 was exquisitely delicate." This curious move- 

 ment seemed to be a prelude to the pro- 

 duction of eggs, which were seen in great 

 numbers. As if its whole life powers were ex- 

 hausted by this process, the creature soon 

 became feeble and then died, its captive life 

 having endured for almost three weeks. 



OUR last examples of the Medusae are to 

 be seen in the illustration on page 746. 



On the right hand of the engraving may be 

 seen an example of the typical genus of this 

 family, which is a native of our own seas. This 

 is a sufficiently common species, and may be 

 found plentifully on our shores, together with 

 its kindred. There are few more beautiful 

 sights than to stand on a pier head or lie in 

 the stern sheets of a boat, and watch the 

 Medusae passing in shoals through the clear 

 water, pulsating- as if the whole being were 

 but a translucent heart, trailing behind them 

 their delicate fringes of waving cilia, and 

 rolling gently over as if in excess of happiness. 

 At night, the Medusas put on new beauties, 

 glowing with phosphorescent light like marine fireflies, and giving to the ocean an almost 

 unearthly beauty that irresistibly recalls to the mind the " sea of glass mingled with fire." 



On the left hand, in the lower corner, is seen that scourge of the ocean, the VENOMOUS 

 CYAN^EA. This harmless-looking creature is, in truth, one of the few inhabitants of 

 the sea that are to be feared by bathers on our favored shores ; but its presence is so 

 much to be dreaded that no one who has once suffered from the lash of its envenomed 

 filaments will venture to bathe without keeping a careful watch on the surrounding 

 water. I have twice undergone the torment occasioned by the contact of this creature, 

 and know by experience the severity of its stroke. 



At its first infliction, the pain is not unlike that caused by the common stinging-nettle, 

 but rather sharper, and with more of a tingling sensation. Presently, however, it increases 

 in violence, and then seems to attack the whole nervous system, occasionally causing 

 a severe pain to dart through the body as if a rifle-bullet had passed in at one side and 

 out at the other. Both the heart and lun^s suffer spasmodically, and the victim oc- 

 casionally feels as if he could not survive for another minute. 



Qhysaora lutea. 



