288 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, AratrsT 7, 18G0. 
through the -water, and occasionally turned inside out into a glass 
vessel of water (salt, of course), when the smaller specimens 
captured will float away uninjured ; many, however, are so trans¬ 
parent and delicate, as to be with difficulty detected. 
The Medusae have generally been divided into two classes, 
the Naked-eyed ( Gymnoptlialmata ), and the Covered-eyed 
(Steganopthalmata ). The smaller kinds belonging to the former 
class, the larger to the latter, which sometimes attain a gigantic 
size. In the Naked-eyed classes, the eye-like spots {Ocelli), 
surrounding the margin of the disk are quite exposed ; whilst in 
the others these organs are protected by a more or less com¬ 
plicated membranous, or lobed, covering. In the former the 
Ocelli are always placed on tire bulbs at the base of the tentacles ; 
in the second group, on the contrary, they are always placed be¬ 
tween the marginal tentacles. Now, although the terms “ Naked¬ 
eyed ” and “ Covered-eyed,” express distinctions which include 
the organs of vision, they do not rest wholly on them. There 
are other characteristics which indicate the Covered-eyed Medusa; 
to be of a higher grade of organisation than the Naked-eyed 
species. Eor example : The former have a much more perfect 
arrangement of vessels ; the latter having only very simple and 
ordinary canals. They may be further subdivided into three 
orders—viz., Discophora, Ctenophora, and Siphonophora. 
The Discophora, or those having a disk, may be described 
thus :—Body in form of circular disk more or less convex, and 
umbrella-shaped, with a large, central, digestive cavity, moving 
by contraction and expansion, and these are of the family chiefly 
known to us. Of the other orders, indeed, we know little save 
their forms. There is a strange phenomenon connected with 
these animals—viz., their reciprocal generation with certain 
Polypes. These Polypes will produce a quantity of little Disco¬ 
phora, which afterwards bring forth a generation of Polypes. Wo 
now look on the counterpart of this strange process, a free-swim- 
ming Medusa, producing little motive eggs, which become in 
time stationary Polypes, and ultimately throw' off a multitude of 
Medusae. 
The most known, or, at least, the best known of the tribe, is the 
“ Eared Medusa” ( Aurelia aurita). It has four imperfect pink 
rings in the disk, and may be often seen floating in our harbours, 
or washed ashore on the beach. Its margin is fringed with very 
numerous and very short tentacles. The arms ( brachice ) are 
two, three, or four, according to the age of the specimen. Our 
drawing represents one of medium age, with two perfect arms, 
and a third advancing in growth. It is chiefly found in the Baltic. 
The next order, Ctenophora, so called from the comb-like 
arrangement of their cilia, have the body symmetrical, are not 
disk-shaped ; they have a digestive cavity, and movo by means of 
parallel rows of cilia on the surface of the body. The most 
common of this order is Deroe, so called from one of the numerous 
daughters of Oceanus ; or Cydippe (an attendant on Cyrene, the 
fabulous daughter of the river Peneus). The body of this 
creature, which is also called the Sea-Lemon, is globose or ovate, 
with eight longitudinal ciliated ribs, and two long tentacles 
covered with spiral tendrils. Cydippe particularly gives out a 
beautiful irridcscence when played upon by the sunlight. This 
little creature seems almost as if it -were composed of glass, and 
its tentacles spun from the same material, so bright and delicate 
are they. They are also retractile, and may be either withdrawn 
within the body or shot out to a surprising length. The creature 
has also the power of altering its shape by contraction and ex¬ 
pansion ; so that engravings of it may frequently exhibit very 
different appearances. 
The third order, Siphonophora, so called from its syphon-like 
sucking organs, have an irregular body, no central digestive 
cavity, without tentacles round the mouth, and move freely by 
means of a special swimming apparatus (whence they are styled 
swimming Polypes). They have prehensile filaments or feelers, 
and protective covers. The best known species are the Physalia, 
which swim constantly on the surface of the sea, and for that 
purpose make use of a crest on the top of the swimming bladder 
as a sail (whence their usual name, “The Portuguese Man-of- 
war,”) and are often seen in largo fleets sailing along the gulf 
stream and other currents of the ocean. The covers or bracts 
mentioned are for the protection of the animal, contributing 
little or nothing to its motion. The feelers are cylindrical or 
vermiform structure, somewhat resembling those of the Polypes, 
but without an external opening. In some cases they are in 
constant motion, feeling about in all directions ; in others they 
are sluggish, and loaded with the general nutritive fluid. As in 
the case of all Jelly Eish, the specific gravity of the Siphono¬ 
phora differs little from that of sea water. The shell found in some 
varieties is only the thickened and hardened wall of the air-sack. 
Al l the tribe of Jelly Eish feed on Crustacea, small fish, and all 
minute marine animals, which are seized and paralysed by their 
deadly arms ; and as the mouth and stomach are capable of 
almost indefinite expansion, the size of their prey often appears 
wonderfully disproportionate to their own.—W. 
{To he contimied.) 
EELIQUES OE PETEE COLLINSON. 
At Collinson’s garden at Mill Hill, the Periploca Grceca and 
numerous other trees and shrubs flowered for the first time in 
England. The place w y as kept up for some years by his son ; 
afterwards it changed hands, and fell into tire possession of the 
Protestant Dissenters, who established there a grammar-school. 
A new house has since been built. 
In 1835 there stood in the grounds a Cedar 60 feet high, its 
lowest branches reclining on the ground, and covering a space of 
70 feet in diameter. Two Finns cemlra, with trunks nearly 
2 feet in diameter, and from 50 to 60 feet high—the finest speci¬ 
mens of this tree in England. These are probably the plants 
presented to him by the Duke of Argyle—one brought from 
Siberia, 1753; the other from the Alps, 1761. There was also, 
in 1835, near his former residence, a Hemlock Spruce 50 feet 
high, extending 40 feet in diameter. A cone of Laurustinus 
20 feet in diameter at the base, besides several other trees and 
shrubs, evidently as old as the time of Collinson. 
To the credit of the proprietors of the school, these fine speci¬ 
mens are carefully preserved, and the name of Collinson respected 
I as it ought to be. Many of the rarest plants had, through mere 
ignorance, been rooted out by a former owmer ; trees scarcely to 
be found in perfection anywhere else in the kingdom at the time, 
and to contemplate which good old Peter wrote, in one of his 
copies of “ Miller’s Gardener’s Dictionary,” at the age of sixty- 
eight, furnished his greatest source of happiness.—( American 
Gardener's Monthly.) 
Large Sugar Peas. —We have received from Messrs. Chari- 
wood &, Cummins, of Tavistock Row, Covent Garden, samples of 
a very large Sugar Pea, which they very aptly call the Brobdig- 
nay Sugar Pea. The pods measure 5f inches long, and 1) inch 
wide, and are somewhat curved laterally as all the Sugar Peas 
are. Messrs. Charlwood are not quite certain that it is a new 
variety. It bears a strong resemblance, from what we can judge, 
to a variety called Giant, by the Erench; but whether it bo 
distinct or not, it is one which all who are cultivators of the 
Sugar Peas for stowing ought to grow. 
