JELLY-FISHES. 371 



orange ovaries have swollen; the purple gemmules 

 have become developed, and have gradually worked 

 their way through the ovaries, and fallen one by one 

 upon the bottom. There then they glide about for a 

 little time, perhaps for a day or so, by means of their 

 vibrating cilia. 



At length each little gemmule loses its power of 

 wandering, its motion becomes feebler, and more in- 

 termitted, and finally ceases altogether. The little 

 being now rests on some solid body — a stone or a 

 shell — to which it firmly adheres. Its two extremities 

 grow out, adhering as they extend, and sometimes 

 branching, but still in close and entire contact with 

 the support. At length, after a day or two, from some 

 point of the upper surface of this creeping root, a 

 kind of wart buds forth, and soon grows into an erect 

 slender stem, which presently divides into four straight, 

 slender, slightly divergent tentacles, which grow 

 straight upward to a considerable length. The whole 

 structure retains the rich purple hue of the original 

 gemmule. 



Beyond this point I have not pursued the history 

 of the little Turris from personal observation ; nor am 

 I aware that any naturalist besides has studied the 

 development of this particular genus. But the history 

 of other genera is known ; and as the phenomena they 

 exhibit are quite parallel to those which I have been 

 describing, so far as these have been traced, we may 

 fairly conclude that there is the same parallelism in 

 the subsequent stages. 



Assuming this, then, the little crimson stem with 

 four rays — a veritable polype — ^buds forth four more 

 tentacles in the interspaces, making the total number 



