ACALEPELE. 
215 
tlie embryo attaches itself to some solid body, a tubercle is loimed, 
and the base extends itself as a dish. At the same time that the hist 
rudiments of the polype appear, the disk-like tubercle throws out on 
its flanks a sort of bud, and a second polype soon shows itself ; its 
surface is hardened ; the polypier appears in its turn, and the same 
process of generation is repeated ; a colony of Sertulariadee is thus estab- 
lished at the summit of a discoid projection. At the end of fifteen days 
the colony, which ha 3 been forming under our eyes, consists of two 
Polypes and a bud, which already indicates a third polype. The sea- 
cypress, as this species is called, is robust, with longish branches de- 
cidedly fan-shaped, the pinna: being closer and nearly parallel to each 
other. The cells form two rows, nearly opposite, smooth and pellucid. 
The branches in some specimens are gracefully arched, bending as it 
Were under the load of pregnant ovaries which they carry, arranged in 
close-set rows along the upper side of the pinnae. J-hey arc found in 
deep water on the coast of Scotland, and as far south as the Yorkshire 
c °ast and the north of Ireland. The cells, wliich are the abode of the 
P°lypes, are not always alike in their distribution. Sometimes they 
ai 'e ranged on two sides, sometimes on one only. Sometimes they are 
§ r °uped like the small tubes of an organ, at other times they assume a 
spiral form round the stem, or they form here and there horizontal 
rill gs round it.” 
Medusadje. 
The Medusae comprehend, not only the animals so designated in 
tire flays of Cuvier under that name, but also the polypes known as 
'^dndaruuLx and Oampanulariaclx. 
If we walk along the sea shore, after the reflux of the tide, we 
often see, lying immovable upon the sands, disk-like, gelatinous 
ruasses of a greenish colour and repulsive appearance, from which the 
e ye and the steps instinctively turn aside. These beings, whose 
Idubber-like appearance inspire only feelings of disgust when seen 
lying g re y ajK p on the shore, are, however, when seen floating on 
Hie bosom of the ocean, one of its most graceful ornaments. These 
:tl ’° Medusae. When seen suspended like a piece of gauze or an azure 
^11 in the middle of the waves, terminating in delicate silvery garlands, 
cannot but admire their iridescent colours, or deny that these 
