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The ultimate source from which the food of all these animals comes—and which, from its abundance, is the cause of life being so extremely prolific in all those regions—is to be found in the vast number of medusoe or jelly-fishes with which the seas in those latitudes are filled.
在那样的纬度上，富含水母或海蜇的海域，可以让所有动物都能从中获取食物，这是动物们的终极食物来源——并且，从其丰富性可以看出，这也是各个区域中使得生命生生不息的原因。
Some of the species have a sort of fringe of hairs, like little snakes, which hang from the margin of the cup-shaped disc that is formed by their bodies, and float writhing and twisting in the water as the cup, by alternate expansions and contractions, forces its way along. It is from this circumstance that they have received their name of medusæ—Medusa having been a fabled monster of ancient times whose head was adorned with snakes instead of hair.
有些物种长着垂发，像小蛇一样，从形成其身体的一部分的杯状圆盘边缘悬垂下来，通过交替的扩张和收缩，随着杯状顶部在水中翻滚和扭动，从而一路前进。正是由于这种状况，它们才得到了美杜莎（水母）的美名，又叫蛇发女妖——古代寓言中以蛇来代替头发的女妖。
Many of the medusæ are phosphorescent: and these luminous species are sometimes so numerous that the whole surface of the ocean glows with them at night, as if the waves were undulations of liquid fire.
很多水母都是发光动物，这些发光的动物如此之多，有时夜晚连整个海洋表面都会显得波光粼粼，起伏不定的海浪就好似液体的火焰闪闪发光。
The different species vary extremely, both in form and in size. Some are so minute as not to be seen by the naked eye; in consequence of which it often happens that curious persons, seeing the whole surface of the sea glowing with the light which they produce, are surprised to find nothing visible in the water when they draw up a bucketful of it to the deck of the ship in order to ascertain the cause.
海洋生物在形态大小上差异相当大。有些生物小到连肉眼都看不见；正因为这样，一些好奇的人们，为了查明海面泛光的真实缘由，就在甲板上从大海里提起一桶水，却惊讶的发现里面什么都没有。
Others of the medusæ are of great size and strength. They sometimes seize and devour fishes of considerable magnitude; and yet their bodies contain so little substance, that when drawn up on the beach, they look like a mere mass of jelly. On being exposed for a short time to the sun and air, they almost entirely dry up and disappear, leaving nothing behind them but a thin filmy web.
其他一些种类的水母，个头很大也很强壮。它们有时会抓住并吞噬某些个头相当大的鱼类；但是，它们本身看上去却又那么缺乏物质形态，以至于当它们被拉上岸边，看上去只有一堆胶状物。暴露在空气和阳光下一段时间后，它们几乎就被风干消失了，只留下一层薄薄的网状物。
Animals of this class swarm in countless millions in all the northern seas. So dense are the shoals sometimes, that the whole colour of the sea for hundreds of miles is changed by them! They furnish, of course, immense quantities of food for whales and other cetaceous animals, and also for fishes of all kinds; which in their turn give sustenance to bears, seals, walruses, and multitudes of other animals.
北半球的海域中有数不尽的这类无脊椎动物，有时，几百英里海平面都会因为它们的密度不同，呈现深浅不一的色彩。当然，它们为鲸鱼、其他鲸类动物及各种鱼类提供了巨大数量的食物，也使北极熊、海豹、海象和其他众多动物得以生存下去。
