318 EVENINGS AT THE MICROSCOPE. 



becoming more and more cloudy and indistinct as digestion 

 in the stomach dissolved its tissues. 



The greater portion of the food is by and by discharged 

 from the mouth ; the fluids which have been extracted from 

 it being on the other hand carried up through the base of 

 the peduncle, and distributed along the four radiating 

 vessels, conveying nutrition, supply of waste, and growth 

 to all parts of the system. 



We may now liberate our little Sarsia, with thanks for 

 the gratification he has afforded us, to resume his active 

 play among his many companions. Meanwhile we will 

 look for one of another kind among the group. 



Here is a pretty and interesting species. Active it is, 

 but less vigorously rapid in its movements, than either the 

 Bero'e or the Sarsia. It is, as you see, something less 

 than a hemisphere, or resembling a watch-glass in shape, 

 about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. In general 

 character it resembles the Sarsia, but the peduncle is 

 small, never reaching to the level of the margin, and its 

 mouth is terminated by four expanding fleshy lips, which 

 are extremely flexible and versatile. 



The four radiating vessels here carry, just before they 

 merge into the marginal canal, a dilatation of the common 

 flesh, which, as you see, bulges out the surface of the 

 umbrella. We will examine one of these dilatations with 

 the microscope. 



It is, as you perceive, occupied by a number of clear 

 globes, each of which has another minute globose body in 

 its interior. They are very diverse in size, some being 

 very small, others comparatively large, and it is to the 

 dimensions of these latter, that the swelling of the surface 

 of the umbrella is due. These vesicles are the eggs of the 

 animal considerably advanced towards maturity ; and the 

 dilatations around the radiating vessels are the ovaries. 



The margin, however, presents us with the most obvious, 

 and perhaps the most interesting, points of diversity from 



