ACALF.rn.E.— THE medusad.t:. 



gravity. This double muvenient of its evanescent 

 (11'1,'nnism liad been observed by the ancients, who 

 therefore bestowed upon it the fanciful name of Sea 

 Lnngs, 



The Meilusje furnish the whale with the principal 

 portion of its food — a fuct from which the reader may 

 infer their prodigious abundance. Sometimes tlieir 

 innumerable legions overspread the sea for many miles. 

 They themselves prey upon molluscs, young Crustacea, 

 and worms, for which purpose they are provided wilh 

 a mouth in the centre of the body. Their voracity 

 is extreme, and they dispose of their victim at one 

 mouthfid, without waiting to divide it. 



In size they vary considerably. Some are not above 

 two or three inches; others are from thirty to thiity- 

 si.\ inches in diameter. 



The human body, wdien it comes in contact witli 

 them, experiences an acute stinging senK^tion. Dio- 

 quemare compares the pain to that which is produced 

 by the touch of a nettle ; only, he says it is more pain- 

 ful, and of longer duration. It is also accompanied by 

 swellings with a whitish point. 



" During the first voyage of tlie Princess Louise 

 round the world," says Fredol, " .Meyeri, the natu- 

 ralist of the expedition, remarked a splendid Physalia 

 passing near the ship. A young sailor leapt naked 

 into the sea to capture it. Swimming towards the 

 animal, he got hold of it ; immediately it wound its 

 numerous thread-like fihiments, each nearly a yard in 

 length, round its assailant's body ; compelling him, in 

 the excess of his agony, to cry for assistance. He had 

 scarcely strength to regain the vessel and get on board 

 again, before the pain and inflammation so increased 

 as to induce brain fever, and great fears were enter- 

 tained for his life." 



Among the Medupse proper, the most common 

 Fpecies are Aurelia, Pelagia, and Chrysaora. It has a 

 hemispherical disc, festooned witli numerous elegant 

 teutacles, which are attached to a sac-like stomach that 

 opens by a single orifice in the centre of the peduncles. 

 Its arms are four in number; they are long, unfringed, 

 and furbelowed. The Gaiiiliclunidi is found all round 

 the Falkland Islands. 



We must now glance at those Medusa' which bear 

 the distinctive term of Rliixostoina. Their disc is 

 depressed, without the ornament of marginal tentacles, 

 but liemispherically festoontil. Its peduncle expands 

 four paiis of arms, forked and numerously dentated, 

 and witli two auricles at the base of each. The disc 

 of the Hliizostoma Cuviiri is white tinged with azure, 

 with a deep violet edging iis circumference. This 

 species is a native of the Allanlic, is gregarious, and 

 of great size. In August it is found on the English 

 coast, and in the vicinity of every port in the Channel 

 it may be seen in October gathering in swarms, or 

 lying high and dry upon the shore, where they have 

 heen untimely wrecked by wind and wave. 



The Il/ii:osloma Ahlrovandi is formidable to 

 bathers; its stinging apparatus being far more power- 

 ful than the nettle. If the animal touches the fisher- 

 man as it is raised from the water, his skin will become 

 inflamed, and swell in disagreeable pustules. 



Ciiasiiipeia and Ciphen also belong to this group. 



We have said nothing as to the resj.iratury orgauii 

 of the Medusaj. The fact is, they breathe through tlio 

 skin, which, for this purpose, is piovided with various 

 elongations and iriarginal fringes. 



The digestive organs are no less peculiar. The 

 mouth is pilaced on the under part of the body, and 

 pierced at the extremity of a trnuipet-like tube, hang- 

 ing not unlike the tongue of a bell. The walls of the 

 slomach, we may add, are provided with numerous 

 elastic appendages, which originate in the cavity of 

 that organ. By means of these vibratile cells, the 

 stomach appears to secrete a solvent juice, which 

 attacks the food and renders it digestible. 



The central mouth is wanting in some of the 

 i\rediiso3. In these cases the stomachal cavity com- 

 municates with the canals that perforate the thickness 

 of the arms, and open at their extremity through num- 

 erous small apertures. From these root-like openings 

 the animals derive their appellation of Rhizostoina, or 

 lioot-mouth, from the Greek j/^a, root, and istCij^'j., 

 mouth. 



The Medusae were long considered a lasiis nalitrce, 

 and supposed to be utterly deficient in organization. 

 But recent inquiries have raised them higher in the 

 scale of being. 



During my residence on the shores of the lied Sea, 

 says Ehrenberg, alihough I had frequently examined 

 the brownish bodies on the edge of the disc of the 

 Medusae, it was only in the past month that I suc- 

 ceeded in ascertaining their true nature and function. 

 Each of these bodies consists of a little yellow oval 

 or cylindrical button, attached to a thin peduncle. 

 This peduncle is fastened to a vesicle, in wliich the 

 microscope reveals the presence of a glandular body, 

 yellow when traversed by the light, but white when 

 the light is sinjply reflected from it. From this body 

 come two branches, and strike towards the peduncle or 

 base of the brown button-like body up to the button 

 or head. Ehrenberg found that each of these pre- 

 sented a very distinct red point placed on the dorsal 

 face of the yellow head, which, wdien compared with 

 similar red points in other animals, he discovered to 

 nscndjle very closely the eyes of the Rotifera and 

 Entoraostraca. 



The bifurcating body situated at the base of the 

 brown spot appears to be a nervous ganglion, and its 

 two branches may be regarded as optic nerves. Each 

 pedunculated eye bears a small yellow sac, containing, 

 in greater or smaller numbers, bright, tiny, crystalline 

 bodies, as clear as water. These, perhaps, like the 

 crystalline facets in the eyes of animals, assist in 

 refracting the light. 



Our closing remarks will be devoted to the repro- 

 ductive system of the Medusa;, which is one of the 

 most romantic facts in natural history. Which of us,' 

 says Quatrefages, would not proclaim the prodigy, if he 

 saw a reptile issue from an egg laid in his courtyard, 

 which afterwards gave birth to an indefinite number 

 of birds and fishes ! Well, tlie generation of the 

 Jledusw is no less remarkable than the instance we 

 have imagined. 



Take, for example, the Rose Aurelia. It lays egg*:, 

 each of which includes three concentric spheres. These 



