LOW LIFE IN THE SEA. 51 



cessfully fish four or five inches in length. In respect to 

 size the medusae vary immensely, some being very small, 

 while others attain more than a yard in diameter. 



8. They breathe through the skin, and the organs of 

 digestion are very peculiar. The walls of the stomach are 

 furnished with a great multitude of vibrating hairy appen- 

 dages, which secrete a juice supposed to decompose the food 

 and make it digestible. Scientists also assert that these 

 creatures have a distinct circulation, organs of sense, and 

 something like a nervous system. The medusa?, for the 

 most part, reproduce themselves.* Few fishes are more 

 marvelous in their construction, more beautiful and grace- 

 ful in form, than the medusa, and there is none which can 

 be more easily studied by the frequenter of the sea-side. 



World of Wonders. 



FLOWERS OF THE SEA. 



1. Our object now is to say something of one of these 

 flower-like types of marine life, namely, the sea-anemone. 

 It is significant, as showing the suggestiveness of these 

 creatures, that, however diverse the nomenclature of sci- 

 ence may be in regard to them, it is often almost poetical, 

 and the words used are always expressive, and even possess 

 pictorial significance. De Blainville named them Zoantlia- 

 ria, from which comes animal-flower. Dr. Johnson's term 

 took a wider latitude, and, although quite formidable-look- 

 ing, and not in the best taste, was very significant. He 

 gave the name Zoophyte hdianthoidea, which is to say, the 

 sunflower-like animal-plant. 



2. In these terms the animal nature and the flower-like 



* By simply detaching a portion of its body, each part becomes a per 

 feet animal. 



