﻿Dec, 1856.] 



ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 



71 



will generally show, from the plentiful streams of granular fluid in 

 the chymiferous tubes, that the parent is probably provided with 

 an unusual quantity of food, and this is, doubtless, a principal 

 ■cause why it is very difficult to keep the mother alive for any 

 length of time in captivity at this stage. To describe the process 

 as it takes place, I must begin by stating what seems even more 

 extraordinary when we consider the low organization of the Medu- 

 sae. For I have seen the proboscis of the parent distinctly con- 

 tracted, and, as it were, turned on one side to receive the scyphons 

 of her offspring, while these were endeavoring also, on their own 

 part, to reach the mouth of the parent. How this takes place will 

 be seen m the figure just referred to, pi. 5, fig. 28b, b and nriy 

 where the lateral flexion of the proboscis is conspicuous. How- 

 ever, it does not always take place, occurring, indeed, only when 

 larvae on one side are to be supplied, but when, as is frequently 

 the case, the larvae are so numerous as almost to surround the pro- 

 boscis of the parent, that organ appears to be simply shortened 

 so considerably as to admit of their being introduced on all sides. 

 In either case, however, the action shows a degree of what is 

 termed parental instinct, very far superior to anything we have 

 reason to expect in animals in which the nervous system is rudi- 

 mentary even with the higher forms. So extraordinary has this 

 fact appeared to myself, that only repeated observations have as- 

 sured me of its truth, and I could not justly find fault with any one 

 who should be disposed to doubt the accuracy of my observations, 

 until they shall be confirmed by the researches of a greater number 

 of observers. 



When free the proboscides of the larvae are usually in rather 

 .active motion, writhing and twisting about in a somewhat worm- 

 like manner, in the clear cavity of the bell, but as soon as they 

 are once introduced into the parent's mouth they become distended 

 and usually arched with considerable regularity, and quite still, 

 as represented fig. 28b, PI. 5. At such a time a current may be 

 seen passing through the oesophageal tube towards the digestive 

 cavity, bearing with it granules and ceils of exactly the same 

 appearance as those seen in the chymiferous tubes of the parent 

 Unfortunately, however, the density of the parent's stomach and 

 even of the contracted lips at such a time render it impossible to 

 see the introduced extremities of the larval scyphoias. Such a 

 view would at once have determined what I cannot now know, i. e. 

 how far the scyphons are thrust, into the stomach, whether or not 



