Page:The aquarium - an unveiling of the wonders of the deep sea.djvu/124

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AN ANCIENT VILLAGE
83

quite concealed the disk. Presently afterwards I perceived that this individual had just given birth to two young ones, one of which was still adhering to the edge of the mouth. I attempted to remove it, but it resisted; at length it came away, dragging a third young one, which was attached to it, out of an orifice situated at the extremity of a line that divides the protrusile lobes from each other. After the birth, I examined this orifice with a lens: its edge appeared lacerated or jagged, and I found that it led, not into the stomach, but into the cavity surrounding the stomach. I then searched at the opposite extremity of the dividing line, and found a corresponding orifice into which I could readily insert a pin without the least resistance till it reached the sucking base. A good deal of the contorted filaments commonly called ovarian, was discharged from both orifices, which, lying about, concealed them from view until searched for.

THE LONG-TONGUED MEDUSA

I continued my walk over the Ferry Bridge, and along the ridge of pebbles, to the fishing village of Chesil. It has an aspect of venerable antiquity, arising chiefly from its being built, even to the poorest fishermen's huts, of massive stone; the door-posts, the window-sills, the lintels, all of the grey freestone, which constitutes the staple of the island. The vast over-hanging cliffs of the west side, add to the grandeur, and impart an awfulness to the scene, which reminded me of an exhumed town. The people visible were few, and those were still, grave, and seemingly only