Yet is this ferocious
creature one of the most delicate and graceful of the inhabitants of
the ocean--a very model of tenderness and elegance.'
The jelly-fishes are all, in their adult state, locomotive beings.
They float freely and incessantly through the ocean, either impelled
by their own efforts, or driven by storm and billow. They for the most
part frequent the open seas, and shun the shore, their delicate frames
being endangered by the perennial strife between land and water. Being
designed for constant motion, for the navigation of the great waters,
their entire organisation is adapted to such a mode of life. We find
amongst those ocean-floaters the greatest perfection and variety of
locomotive apparatus; and they have been divided into sections,
according to the modifications of this portion of structure which they
exhibit. We shall endeavour to give a popular account of the leading
peculiarities of each, and note the most interesting points in the
history of the tribe.
In the first section, the animals are furnished with a disk or
umbrella of varying shape, which serves as a float, beneath which hang
certain processes connected with the functions of prehension and
digestion.
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