t 
9 ° The Hiftory of A N I M A L S. 
Medufa orbtculo cruce alba pi&o. 
. The Medufa , with the orbiculus marked with a white crofs. 
This is a very beautiful little fpecies: it rarely exceeds an inch in diameter, or a third 
of an inch in thicknefs : it is a lump of a fine tranfparent colourlefs jelly ; but, under 
the full funfhine, fometimes appears as it were on fire, and fometimes thews all the co¬ 
lours of the rainbow: it is quite even and undivided at the edges, and, on the center of 
the under furface, is beautifully variegated with a white crofs, which reaches quite from 
one fide to the other. 
It is lefs frequent than the two former fpecies, but is fometimes found about our 
coafts. I have met with it in Suflex. 
The other fpecies of the Medufa are, i. The very large, fiat Medufa, with eight 
double pun&ated lines. 2. The great, convex, and very thick Medufa. 3. The great 
Medufa, with only four finuations at the edge, but thofe very deep. 4. The lefler 
fmooth-edged Medufa. 5. The Medufa, with fix emarginated lobes at the edge. 6. 
The multifid-edged Medufa. All thefe fpecies I have met with about the Suflex and 
Kentifh coafts: authors feem to have meant fome of them by their figures and 
defcriptions, but they have exprefled themfelves fo inaccurately, that nothing can be 
determined with certainty from their accounts. 
A P H R O D I T A. 
T H E body is of an oval figure, and aculeated $ and there is a perforation in the 
middle of the back. 
Aphrodita elliptica verfcolor. 
The elliptic , changeable-coloured Aphrodita . 
This is an extreamly Angular animal; at firft fight, it is not eafy to make a guefs at 
what it is - 9 it has greatly more the appearance of a fragment of fome other body, 
than of a compleat animal. It is about two inches in length, and more than an inch 
in diameter in the middle, from whence it grows gradually a little fmaller to each 
end $ but is at both extremities obtufe, and the difference in breadth is fo little between 
thofe and the middle, that it has, upon the whole, the appearance of a tolerably re¬ 
gular elliptic figure : it’s back is convex and rounded ; it’s under part flat: it is of a 
foft and tender ftrudture, and is covered all over with little tufts of lhort and flender 
filaments in manner of hairs; thefe are fhorteft on the middle, and longer gradually 
toward the edges ; they are of a mixt purplifh and yellowifh colour, and in feveral 
lights appear of different degrees, between a gilded brown and thofe two colours, in 
the manner of the changeable filks. In the middle of the back there is an aper¬ 
ture or hole, furrounded with a tuft of thefe hairs i and, when the creature is prefled, a 
liquor, like fea water, is forced out at this aperture, and the whole body becomes 
flaccid and lefs convex. 
I met with it in great abundance this laft fummer on the Kentifh coaft, among rocks: 
the accounts authors give of thefe bodies are fo imperfect that it is not certain this 
fpecies has been defcribed by any of them. 
Aphrodita fubcylindrica variegata . 
The fubcylindric variegated Aphrodita. £] 30 ilfe* 
This is a flenderer fpecies than the former, but is more than equal to it in length : 
the back is rounded ; the belly is alfo fomewhat prominent in the middle, not flat as in 
the other fpecies : it’s fubftance is fomewhat firm, and it’s two ends are nearly equal to 
the middle in thicknefs : it is covered with hairy filaments, which are fhort on the 
middle of the back, but longer at the fides; they are all fomewhat rigid and firm j thofe 
on the back ftand ere£t, like the quills of a porcupine ; thofe on the fides lie flat, and , 
are of a great variety of colours j a beautiful blue and lively green are very diftin£t in 
them, and a gold-yellow feems the mo ft predominant colour; on the back they are 
ofadufkier colour, and in many places of a greyifh-brown. 
