MEDUSA AND HER LOCKS. 137 



carried about almost at random by the waves or 

 currents, they in so far bid defiance to the powers of 

 the sea that they are not tossed about in all sorts of 

 positions, as is usually the case with creatures that are 

 thrown upon the beach, but die, like Caesar, decently, 

 with their mantles wrapped round them. 



Looking closer at the medusa, the observer will 

 find that the substance is by no means homogeneous, 

 but that it is traversed by numerous veinings, something 

 like the nervures of a leaf. These marks indicate the 

 almost inconceivably delicate tissues of which the real 

 animated portion of the creature is composed, and 

 which form a network of cells that enclose a vast pro- 

 portionate amount of sea-water. If, for example, a 

 medusa weighing some three or four pounds be laid in 

 the sun, the whole animal seems to evaporate, leaving 

 in its place nothing but a little gathering of dry fibres, 

 which hardly weigh as many grains as the original mass 

 weighed pounds. The enclosed water has been examined 

 by competent analysts, and has been found to differ in 

 no perceptible degree from the water of the sea whence 

 the animal was taken. 



Though the cells appear at first sight to be disposed 

 almost at random, a closer investigation will show that 

 a regular arrangement prevails among them, and that 

 they can all be referred to a legitimate organisation. 

 So invariably is this the case that the shape and order 

 of these cells afford valuable characteristics in the 

 classification of these strange beings. 



