ZOOPHYTES. 
33 
difficult to say what will escape the eye of a pelagic bird, such 
as gull, guillemot, or hawk-like tern. Their keen eyes 
distinguish very indistinct objects—for instance, the nucleus 
of Salpa runcinata , and the minute and almost transparent 
bodies of the young fishes that flit amongst the splendid masses 
of swimming jellies (Molluscan and Ccelenterate) which some¬ 
times throng our western shores. The mere tremor of the 
water is almost sufficient to attract such acute and skilful 
marauders. Moreover the statement of the great naturalist 
is incomplete without the appendix that many of the Medusae 
and Hydromedusae are brilliantly coloured and, in addition, 
phosphorescent, the latter property likewise characterizing the 
translucent Pyrosoma , and that my distinguished friend Prof. 
Wyville Thomson regards the luminosity of marine animals as 
a provision of nature for attracting their enemies in the abysses 
of the ocean, or for throwing a flood of light on their own prey. 
I have already * shown my reasons for believing that the theory 
of the latter author is open to doubt, and shall make a fewfurther 
remarks on the subject under the Annelida. If the notion had 
been promulgated that the sexes in the abysses of the ocean used 
their light to attract each other, and thus had a better chance of 
continuing the race, perhaps more might have been said in its 
favour. 
Genus Aurelia, Per. & Les. 
Aurelia aurita , 0. Fabr. 
Abundant in autumn and often so late as November. 
Genus Cyanea, Per. & Les. 
Cyanea capillata , Eschsch. 
Common in autumn. 
Order Lucernariida:. 
(Calycozoa , R. Leuck.). 
Genus Lucernaeia, 0. F. Muller. 
Lucernaria auricula , O. Fabr. 
[Plate III. figs. 11 & 12.] 
Frequent on Fuci near the commencement of the East 
Rocks, and occasionally at the West Rocks. It is as common 
as in the south. 
.* Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1872, ser. 4, vol. ix. p. 2. 
P 
