108 P. E. Raymond — Seaside Notes. 



Aet. V. — Seaside Notes; by Peeoy E. Raymond. 



The logical place for the student of invertebrate fossils 

 during the summer is at the seashore, but unfortunately 

 most of us find ourselves occupied in the interior of the 

 country when we leave our laboratories. Many things 

 which have a geological or paleontological bearing are 

 happening at the present moment, and it is the purpose of 

 this note to record two observations which seem to have a 

 certain significance. 



Preservation of Jelly-fishes. 



I happened in the early summer of 1919 to be on the 

 sandy outer beach at Duxbury, Mass., on a windy day 

 shortly after a storm. A large number of the common 

 jelly-fish, Staurophora, had been driven inshore and when 

 I arrived had been left stranded for some hours by the 

 retreating tide. A stiff land breeze was drifting sand 

 down the beach in considerable quantities, and much of 

 it found lodgment in the jelly-fishes. The sand so 

 caught adhered to the jelly-fish, which had lost so much 

 water by evaporation that its thickness was less than one 

 millimeter. Although the specimens had shrunk con- 

 siderably, their diameters averaging from 90 to 100 mm., 

 most of them retained a nearly circular outline. The 

 sand varied from fine to coarse, and one specimen which 

 I preserved has in it a flat pebble 14 mm. across. 



I expected to find these specimens very fragile but had 

 no difficulty in lifting them off the sand by taking hold of 

 one edge and peeling them off slowly. I spread four of 

 them flat in a newspaper and placed them under the 

 back seat of the car. Three weeks later, on removing 

 them, they had not changed in any respect. They were 

 then laid on a laboratory table, still in the newspaper, 

 and a book placed on them. At the end of three months 

 they were in the same condition as when collected. They 

 were still limp and flexible and could be lifted by the edge 

 without pulling apart. 



At this time I treated them lightly with shellac, which 

 caused a certain amount of wrinkling and contraction, 

 and has made them brittle. The specimens with the finest 

 sand are of course the best preserved, but all still show 



