The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and PoliticsVarious
History
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 10, No. 59, September, 1862: A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics
Various
American periodicals
Beside the Jelly-Fishes arising from Hydroids, there are many others
resembling these in all the essential features of their structure, but
differing in their mode of development; for, although more or less
Polyp-like when first born from the egg, they never become attached, nor
do they ever bud or divide, but reach their mature condition without any
such striking metamorphoses as those that characterize the development
of the Hydroid Acalephs. All the Medusas, whether they arise from buds
on the Hydroid stock, like the Sarsia, or from transverse division of
the Hydroid form, like the Aurelia, or grow directly from the egg to
maturity, without pausing in the Hydroid phase, like the Campanella,
agree in the general division and relation of parts. All have a central
cavity, from which arise radiating tubes extending to the margin of the
umbrella-like disk, where they unite either in a net-work of meshes or
in a single circular tube. But there is a great difference in the oral
apparatus; the elaborate ruffled curtains, that hang from the corners of
the mouth, occur only in the Species arising from the transverse
division of the Polyp-like young. For this reason they are divided into
two Orders,--the Hydroids and the Discophorae.
The third Order, the Ctenophorae, are among the most beautiful of the
Acalephs. I have spoken of the various hues they assume when in motion,
and I will add one word of the peculiarity in their structure which
causes this effect. The Ctenophorae differ from the Jelly-Fishes
described above in sending off from the main cavity only two main tubes,
instead of four like the others; but each of these tubes divides and
subdivides in four branches as it approaches the periphery. From the
eight branches produced in this way there arise vertical tubes extending
in opposite directions up and down the sides of the body. Along these
vertical tubes run the rows of little locomotive oars, or combs, as they
have been called, from which these animals derive their name of
Ctenophorae. The rapid motion of these flappers causes the decomposition
of the rays of light along the surface of the body, producing the most
striking prismatic effect; and it is no exaggeration to say that no
jewel is brighter than these Ctenophorae as they move through the water.
[Illustration: Idyia roseola; one of our Ctenophorae: a, anal aperture;
b, radiating tube; c, circular tube; d, e, f, g, h, rows of locomotive
fringes.]
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