The animal life of our seashore With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island . hen theseheads drop ofT (Yerrill). As in Tubularia, the re-productive buds hang down in drooping (red) grape-like clusters, but they do not develop into freemedusae. JELLY-PADS AND JELLY-FISHES. The favored few among the dwellers by thesea to whom a bright and w^arm summers day issomething more than a source of unmitigateddiscomfort and complaint cannot easily pass amore delightful hour than by navigating the quietwaters in search of medusae. These exquisite creat-ures, for al
The animal life of our seashore With special reference to the New Jersey coast and the southern shore of Long Island . hen theseheads drop ofT (Yerrill). As in Tubularia, the re-productive buds hang down in drooping (red) grape-like clusters, but they do not develop into freemedusae. JELLY-PADS AND JELLY-FISHES. The favored few among the dwellers by thesea to whom a bright and w^arm summers day issomething more than a source of unmitigateddiscomfort and complaint cannot easily pass amore delightful hour than by navigating the quietwaters in search of medusae. These exquisite creat-ures, for all the world like water-bubbles, will almost surely be outin greater or less number; butsome of them are so minute, al-most microscopic, others so trans-parent, that, unless the sea is ac-tually covered by them, a sharp ^atch must be kept, or else theywill escape us. A glass jar will be of service in a tripof this kind, as through its aid a rapprochement maybe effected between us and the tiny creatures whosehabits we wish to study. Some appear nearly tor-pid on the surface, dragging their tentacles wearily. 64 SqUIRTS, POLYPS, AND JELLY-FISHES. after them; others, again, are darting actively along,propelled by successive pulsations of their trans-parent bells. It is at first difficult to conceive thatthese delicate films are indeed masses of organizedanimal matter, so frail and evanescent do they ap-pear as they noiselessly slip by. But scoop up aClytia, or a Dactylometra (PI. 4, Fig. 6), and ex-amine the animal leisurely in the jar that has beenbrought for that purpose. Structures that escapedour attention before are now distinctly visible. Thepulsating bell is the first object to attract our no-tice. Its perfect transparency permits us to see,suspended from the centre of the interior, a pe-culiar pouch-like body, at the extremity of whichis situated the mouth. The water entering by themouth passes into the hollow of the pouch or manu-brium, whence it is in great part d
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectmarineanimals, bookye
