Seaside Studies in Natural History
Book Excerpt
Darwin's fascinating book, published after his voyage to the Pacific, and giving an account of the Coral islands, the many memoirs of Milne Edwards and Haime, and the great works of Quoy and Gaimard, and of Dana, are the chief authorities upon Polyps. In the study of the European Acalephs we have a long list of names high in the annals of science. Eschscholtz, Peron and Lesueur, Quoy and Gaimard, Lesson, Mertens, and Huxley, have all added largely to our information respecting these animals, their various voyages having enabled them to extend their investigations over a wide field. No less valuable have been the memoirs of Koelliker, Leuckart, Gegenbaur, Vogt, and Haeckel, who in their frequent excursions to the coasts of Italy and France have made a special study of the Acalephs, and whose descriptions have all the vividness and freshness which nothing but familiarity with the l