348 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE 



CHAPTER XYII 



JELLY-FISHES 



AS this afternoon was delightfully calm and warm 

 the very model of an autumnal day I took my 

 muslin ring-net and walked down to the rocks at 

 the margin of the quiet sea. Nor was I disappointed ; for 

 the still water, scarcely disturbed by an undulation, and 

 clear as crystal, was alive with those brilliant little globes 

 of animated jelly, the Ciliograde and Naked-eyed Medusae, 

 apparently little more substantial than the clear water it- 

 self. Multitudes of them were floating on the surface, and 

 others were discerned by the practiced eye, at various 

 depths, shooting hither and thither, now ascending, now 

 descending, now hanging lightly on their oars, and now, 

 as if to make up for sloth, darting along obliquely with 

 quickly-repeated vigorous strokes, or rolling and revolv- 

 ing along, in the very wantonness of humble happiness. 

 After gazing a while with admiration at the undis- 

 turbed jollity of the hosts, I made a dip with my net, the 

 interior of which, on lifting it from the water, was lined 

 with sparkling balls of translucent jelly. They were far 

 too numerous to allow me to transfer them all to captiv- 

 ity; they would soon have choked up and destroyed one 

 another; I therefore selected the finest and most interest- 

 ing, shaking an example or two of each kind into my 

 glass jar of sea-water, where they immediately began to 



