182 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



which are so diaphanous that they can scarcely be 

 distinguished from the water in which they move, 

 and finally the graceful Stephanomiae, whose living 

 garlands of crystals and blossoms, more delicate than 

 the preceding species, disappear on drying, and in 

 the morning leave not even a cloud to mark their 

 presence in the goblet which they had adorned the 

 previous evening.* 



In our anxiety to study these derivatives of rare, 



The former of these observers is Professor of Anatomy and 

 Physiology at Wiirzburg, and is well known to all naturalists for 

 his numerous works, most of which are devoted to histology and 

 the anatomy of the lower animals. Few German naturalists have 

 better understood the advantages to be derived from a study of the 

 marine species, and Professor Kolliker has already made several 

 expeditions to the shores of the Mediterranean for the purpose of 

 carrying out his various researches. 



Vogt, who had formerly been a Professor at Giessen, and in 

 1848 was nominated Deputy to the Parliament at Frankfort, where 

 he distinguished himself by his advocacy of ultra-liberal opinions, 

 is at the present time Professor at the University of Geneva. This 

 naturalist began his labours in conjunction with M. Agassiz, and 

 amongst other memoirs he supplied a treatise on the embryology 

 of the Salmon in the Histoire des Poissons d'eau douce, which is 

 still the chief authority on the development of animals of this class. 

 Professor Vogt has published a great number of memoirs, both in 

 the French and German scientific journals. After having remained 

 for nearly two years at Nice, in order the better to study marine 

 animals, he commenced the publication of his researches by a most 

 interesting memoir on the Siphonophora, a group established by 

 Eschscholz, which corresponds very nearly to the Acalephes 

 Hydrostatiques of Cuvier, and which includes the Diphyes, the 

 Stephanomias, &c., of which we have already spoken. 



* The S'tephanomias, even to unscientific persons, are amongst 

 the most curious objects that we meet with in the marine world. 

 I shall have occasion to revert at a future page to these singular 

 creatures. 



