cate to
be caught safely in that way; while one of us moves the net gently
about, to keep him within the space inclosed by it, another slips the
glass bowl under him, lifts it quickly, and there is a general
exclamation of triumph and delight;--we have him! And now we look more
closely. Yes, decidedly he is a novelty as well as a beauty (_Ptychogena
lactea_, A. Ag.). Those white mossy tufts for ovaries are unlike
anything we have found before, and not represented in any published
figures of Jelly-Fishes. We float about here for a while, hoping to find
more of the same kind, but no others make their appearance, and we keep
on our way to East Point, where there is a capital fishing-ground for
Medusae of all sorts. Here two currents meet, and the Jelly-Fishes are
stranded, as it were, along the line of juncture, able to move neither
one way nor the other. At this spot the sea actually swarms with life:
one cannot dip the net into the water without bringing up Pleurobrachia,
Bolina, Idyia, Melicertum, etc., while the larger Zygodactyla and
Aurelia float about the boat in numbers. These large Jelly-Fishes
produce a singular effect as one sees them at some depth beneath the
water; the Aureliae, especially, with their large disks, look like pale
phantoms wandering about far below the surface; but they constantly
float upward, and if not too far out of reach, one may bring them up by
stirring the water under them with the end of the oar.

When we passed an hour or so floating about just beyond East Point, and
have nearly filled our buckets with Jelly-Fishes of all sizes and
descriptions, we turn and row homeward. The buckets look very pretty as
they stand in the bottom of the boat with the sunshine lighting up their
living contents. The Idyia glitters and sparkles with ever-changing
hues; the Pleurobrachiae dart about, trailing their long, graceful
tentacles after them; the golden Melicerta are kept in constant motion
by their quick, sudden contractions; and the delicate, transparent Tima
floats among them all, not the less beautiful because so colorless.
There is an unfortunate Idyia, who, by some mistake, has got into the
wrong bucket, with the larger Jelly-Fish, where a Zygodactyla has
entangled it among his tentacles and is quietly breakfasting upon it.

[Illustration: Ptychogena lactea.]

During our row the tide has been rising, and as we near the channel of
Saunders's Ledge, it is running through more strongly than befo