The Hiflory jf ANIMALS, 8g 
which particular fpecies is meant, by any of their engravings or defcriptions; they will 
be eafily diftinguifhed by thefe fpecific names, care being firft taken to admit none of 
a wrong genus among them, but attention firff paid to the number of the tentacula. 
MEDUSA. 
T H E body of the Medufa is of an orbiculated figure and convex, and is of a ge¬ 
latinous fubftance, and not hairy : the tentacula, or the plicte, which are in 
the place of them, are fituated in the center of the under part of the animal: authors 
have defcribed feveral of the fpecies of this genus, under the names of Urticse marine 
and Pulmones marini. 
Medufa orbiculi margine fedecies emarginato . 
The Medufa , with the rim of the orbiculus 'JDt 01) tH jLtXUQS* 
emarginated in fxteen places . 
This is a very fingular and odd animal : it feems a mere lump, of a whitilh femi- 
pellucid jelly, and is as eafily broken and deftroyed by a touch, as the common jellies 
brought to our tables: it’s fhape is rounded, rifing into a convexity in the middle, 
where it is therefore thickeft, and whence it becomes gradually thinner to the fides; on 
the under fide it is plain, and on this there is vifible a rough, or as it were echinated, 
circle, within which there run eight pairs of rays from the center toward the circum- 
ference ; and from the center there arife alfo a number of curled appendages, which are 
fometimes reddifh, but more ufually whitifh, and a vaft multitude of {lender filaments: 
the edge, or the circumference of the body, is regularly divided into eight portions, 
and each of thefe is emarginated, fo that on the whole verge there are fixteen 
finus’s. • v 
I have met with this fpecies, in vaft abundance, floating on the furface of the water 
about Sheppey ifland in Kent, andelfewhere on that coaft: great quantities of it are de¬ 
ftroyed, by being thrown on fhore with the waves* whence it has no power of getting 
off again ; and, in the open feas, many fifh lkim near the furface* and prey on them : 
all the writers on this fubjedt have defcribed an animal of this clafs, under the name of 
Pulmo Marinus, but fo inaccurately that it is hard to fay, if they meant this fpecies; 
their figures alfo are as bad as their defcriptions: in fhort, this clafs of animals, in gene¬ 
ral, are fo very confufedly treated of by authors, that the only way to come at a know¬ 
ledge of them is to difregard what has hitherto been faid on the fubjedt. Linnaeus’s 
generical diftindtions are, indeed, accurate, and, as fuch, the charadters are retained 
here. 
* ... \ t. ' * /j ii|»- f'' <■ m in - • 1 » - i ' W S % . 
Medufa orbiculo fubtus quatuor cavitatibus not at o. 30 jt 0i)Zii 
The Medufa, with four cavities on the under furface . 
This appears, as floating on the water, to be a mere lifelefs lump of jelly: it is of 
a whitifh colour, with a caft of bluifh-grey, and is of an orbiculated figure, elevated 
into a convexity in the middle, on the upper fide, flat on the under, and furnilhed 
with a fringe of fine and fomewhat rigid filaments round the edge, referqbling white 
hairs: on the under furface there are four cavities near the center, each of an arcuat¬ 
ed figure, and furrounded with an opake line, formed of about twenty-four parallel 
points or dots: from the very center of the under fide there arife four crooked appen¬ 
dages, which have each a row of hairy filaments on the exterior edge; and on the 
upper furface there is an appearance of fine veffels of a pale colour. 
This fpecies is frequent floating on the furface of the fea, or adhering to rocks about 
our own coafts; and, when the fun fhines on them, they have a very beautiful lucid ap¬ 
pearance. Authors have defcribed it, but very inaccurately, under the name of Urtica 
Marina, or the Sea Nettle, a term ufed to exprefs it’s caufing a difagreeable tingling in 
the hands, when taken up. 
