JELLY-FISHES 



* ) ,, * I 



ODD ~ 



individual of otolithes, or spheres of solid, transparent, 

 highly refractive substance. They are arranged in a 

 double line, forming a crescent, and those which are 

 nearest the centre are longer than those toward the ex- 

 tremities of the line. I believe some observers have seen 

 oscillatory and rotatory movements among these spherules, 

 as in the Mollusca; but I have invariably found them mo- 

 tionless in all the species of Medusa that I have examined, 

 as you see them here. 



One more little beauty from our stock, and we have 

 done with these. There is one that moves among the rest 



OTOLITHES OF THAUMANTIAS. 



like a bead of coral, the smallest of all, yet the most bril- 

 liant. Here is another, and here another of the same sort; 

 which has been named by Professor Edward Forbes Turris 

 neglecta, because naturalists before him had neglected to 

 notice it, just as we have been doing, engrossed by its 

 larger confreres. 



Beautiful as is this little gem, it is not so large as a 

 dried pea, scarcely larger than a grain of hemp- seed. It 

 is described as "mitre-shaped"; in other words, it is a 

 tall bell, with the margin slightly bent inward, and the 

 sides a little constricted. The umbrella is thick, and be- 

 ing very muscular is not so translucent as those we have 



