COMMON OBJECTS OF THE SHORE. 321 



and by the French Orties de Mer. This is a very 

 old name for them, for Aristotle called them so, 

 and it was given on account of the stinging pro- 

 perty possessed by some of them. They have not 

 all, however, the power of stinging, though all are 

 phosphorescent. Indeed, by far the greater num- 

 ber of the British jelly-fishes may be touched with 

 safety, and Professor Forbes, in his work on the 

 " Naked-eyed Medusae," mentions four species only 

 as being, in his opinion, gifted with this nettle-like 

 property. Beautiful as are many of the creatures 

 of the sea, none are more lovely than theAcalephs. 

 Now they may be seen in the darkness of night, 

 moving with most graceful ease, like so many 

 resplendent orbs, shining singly, yet gliding from 

 place to place ; and now combined in vast multi- 

 tudes, forming a broad sheet of light. The vessel 

 glides in amongst them, or the oar throws up the 

 white foam, and a shower of stars rises but to fall 

 in a stream of living brightness. Down below the 

 surface these jellies seem like balls of silver or gold; 

 sometimes, as in the Girdle of Venus, of the blue 

 Mediterranean, appearing like a riband of flame, 

 of several feet long ; or, as in the yet more lumi- 

 nous Pyrosoma, enabling the voyager to read by 

 their light, as he stands by the cabin window of 

 the ship. Some of the larger species are described 

 as having the resemblance to white-hot shot, visi- 

 ble at some depth beneath the surface. Our own 

 rocky shores are sometimes studded with them as 

 with diamonds, and many who have trodden on the 

 tuft of sea-weed, have seen it shoot out, in all 

 directions, rays of phosphoric light, which re- 

 minded them of a star of artificial firework. So 

 beautiful are they, that the man of science, in 



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