610 Badiata. 
described as occurring in the Sea Anemones, and it is to 
these that the stinging power of the Medusae is due. 
The motion of the Medusas through the water is effected 
by the alternate expansion and contraction of its um- 
brella, which is slightly inclined in the direction towards 
which the creature is moving, and it is a most beautiful 
sight to look down upon a fleet of these animals, all 
advancing in the same direction at a depth of two or 
three feet in the water, as may often be seen in fine 
weather at the mouths of our rivers. 
At first sight it may be thought that the Medusae have 
but little in common with the Hydroid or any other 
Polyps, but it has been fully proved by late researches 
that the young animal produced from the egg of the Me- 
dusa is a regular Polyp, which adheres by its base, and 
obtains its food by the agency of a crown of tentacles sur- 
rounding its mouth ; nay, it even propagates in this form 
by pushing out buds exactly in the manner described in 
the case of the fresh-water Hydra. In course of time, 
however, the body of this Polyp becomes elongated, 
and its surface is marked into rings, the grooves sepa- 
rating which gradually become deeper until the whole 
body breaks up into a number of saucer-like segments, 
each of which becomes a Medusa. How fully does this 
extraordinary mode of reproduction show that the won- 
ders of the Creator are no less striking in the lowest 
than in the highest of his creatures, and that for all, 
from the highest to the lowest, the same prescient care 
has been exercised, the same goodness evinced. Verily, 
we may follow the pious example of the great Linnaeus, 
and exclaim with the Psalmist, " O Lord, how manifold 
are thy works ! in wisdom hast thou made them all." 
