Animal life in the sea and on the land . te-noph-o-ra. Were it possible for you once to seethese charming creatures darting about in their nativesea-water, their name henceforth would have a pleasantsound, and even a pleasant look, recalling to your mindslovely images of floating balloons and fairy bubbles. 3. How shall we see Them?âCtenophora are too smalland inconspicuous to be seen at the distance we usually arefrom the surface of the ocean, so the best way to observethem is in a large glass jar. On a calm day a jar of waterdipped from the surface of the ocean may contain someof these beaut
Animal life in the sea and on the land . te-noph-o-ra. Were it possible for you once to seethese charming creatures darting about in their nativesea-water, their name henceforth would have a pleasantsound, and even a pleasant look, recalling to your mindslovely images of floating balloons and fairy bubbles. 3. How shall we see Them?âCtenophora are too smalland inconspicuous to be seen at the distance we usually arefrom the surface of the ocean, so the best way to observethem is in a large glass jar. On a calm day a jar of waterdipped from the surface of the ocean may contain someof these beautiful creatures, although perhaps several jar-fuls will have to be raised before the search is successful. 3 50 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE SEA AND ON THE LAND. 4. Transparency of the Ctenophora.âUpon looking close-ly at the little captives you will find them to be jelly-like,melon-shaped bodies, with bands running from end to endlike the ribs on a melon. They are almost transparent,and if it were not for the prismatic colors that play upon. Fi£. 29.âCtenophora. their sides as they glide through the water we couldscarcely see them. If the ctenophora sporting about inthe jar should swim in between you and any object be-yond the jar, you can see the object distinctly throughtheir transparent bodies. Fig. 29 shows the form of oneof the ctenophora, but it gives no idea of its delicacy. CTENOPHORA. 51 5. The Soft Bodies.âThe soft bodies of the ctenophoraand their manner of life may remind you of , their structure is far more complicated, as we mayobserve through the clear substance of which the bodyis composed. When taken from the sea-water they losetheir shape, and nothing is left but a film which is almostinvisible. 6. Jelly-like Animals could Live only in Water. â Thethought has perhaps already occurred to you that suchanimals as these, with jelly-like bodies, could live no-where but in the water. Many of them have no meansof pursuing or of catching their prey, an
Size: 1315px × 1900px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1887
