Natural history of animals; . s and lassos. On thetentacles of Jellyfishes, and of Polyps too, there arenumerous lasso-cells, — too small to be seen withoutthe microscope,— each containing a long, spirally-coiledthread or lasso, which can be instantly darted forth andthrust into the little animal which is desired for food. Ctenophora. The Ctenophora are more or less spherical, or egg-shaped, with eight rows of locomotive fringes dividingthe surface of the body, as the ribs divide the surfaceof a melon. The Pleurobrachia is one of the most com-mon kinds on the northeast coast of the United Stat
Natural history of animals; . s and lassos. On thetentacles of Jellyfishes, and of Polyps too, there arenumerous lasso-cells, — too small to be seen withoutthe microscope,— each containing a long, spirally-coiledthread or lasso, which can be instantly darted forth andthrust into the little animal which is desired for food. Ctenophora. The Ctenophora are more or less spherical, or egg-shaped, with eight rows of locomotive fringes dividingthe surface of the body, as the ribs divide the surfaceof a melon. The Pleurobrachia is one of the most com-mon kinds on the northeast coast of the United States, CTEXOPHORA. 245 and in its movements and curious appendages is one ofthe most wonderful of all the Jelly fishes. It is transpa-rent, and besides the eight rows of fringes mentionedabove, it has two most extraordinary tentacles one oneither side of the body ; and no form of expansion orcontraction, or curve or spiral, can be conceived whichthese tentacles may not assume. Bolina and Idyia are other sCtenophora common on. Fig. 473. — Pleurobrachia. the northeast coast of the United States. The Rose-colored Idyia is three or four inches long, and shaped 246 CCELENTERATES : ACALEPHS. somewhat like a melon with one end cut off. Themouth occupies the whole of the cut-off end, and thestomach occupies a large part of the interior of theanimal. In summer it sometimes appears in suchswarms as to tinge large patches of the sea with adelicate rosy hue. It is very voracious, and feedsmainly on other jellyfishes, sometimes capturing thosenearly as large as itself. True Medusae, or Discophora. These have the body in the form of a hemisphericdisk, more or less flattened. Of these disk-shaped Me-dusae none are more beautiful in their appearance orinteresting in their history than the Aurelia, or Sun-fish, represented in Figure 477. This Jellyfish iscommon on the coast of New England, is about afoot across in the larger specimens, and lives but asingle year. In the spring it is about a
Size: 1014px × 2466px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
