ANIMAL POWERS OF OFFENSE AND DEFENSE. 359 



has recklessly ventured across the graceful monster's path, too soon 

 writhes in prickly torture. Every struggle," he continues, " but 

 binds the poisonous threads more firmly round his body, and then 

 there is no escape ; " for, as the naturalist informs us, even when the 

 arms or tentacles are cast loose from the body of the jelly-fish, they 

 " sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor itself gave the word 

 of attack." The Abbe Dicquemare, an observant French naturalist, 

 found that some species can only sting the more sensitive parts of 

 tlie body, such as the eyes. But Forbes's remark of the abbe's experi- 

 ment, that most people would prefer " keeping their eyes intact, to 

 poking niedusce into them," will coincide, we imagine, with the opin- 

 ions of most of our readers. It is equally worthy of remark that 

 "appearances" in natural history, as in ordinary life, are apt to be 

 " deceptive ; " and, looking at the grace and beauty of the jelly-fishes, 

 we could hardly credit them with such virulent powers. 



The most notable offenders of the jelly-fish class, in respect of 

 their stinging powers, are the Physalice, or Portuguese-men-of-war, as 

 they are popularly termed a group of beautiful oceanic forms, met 

 with floating far out at sea, especially in tropical latitudes, and pre- 

 senting the appearance of a bladder-like structure, provided with a 

 crest and trailing streamers, and colored of the most ethereal and 

 beautiful of hues. When the* tentacles of a physalia are allowed to 

 come in contact with the human skin, the thread-cells which are of 

 large relative size, and measure in diameter about the three-thou- 

 sandth of an inch sting so severely that the effects of the irritation 

 may persist for a considerable time, and may give rise in some cases 

 to very painful after-effects. The thread-cells in the tentacles of the 

 common species of sea-anemones have no effect on the skin of man ; 

 but, as the writer has frequently demonstrated on his own person, if 

 the tentacle be allowed to touch the more delicate mucous membrane 

 of the lips, a slight stinging sensation, accompanied by temporary 

 numbness, may be felt. To the curious this is worth trying. 



Passing in review the higher groups of the animal kingdom, we 

 find an endless variety of contrivances subserving offensive purposes, 

 or limited to the milder purposes of defense. Shells, scales, and 

 plates of every kind, with special modifications for special purposes, 

 may thus readily be selected as examples; spines and allied arma- 

 ments of all shapes and sizes ; poison-secretions and fangs of centi- 

 pedes and serpents, and the sting of scorpions and bees, possessing 

 sure and sometimes deadly effect on those they attack ; and, in 

 quadrupeds, strong claws and teeth united to equally powerful mus- 

 cles such are a few examples of the endless stores of weapons con- 

 tained in animal armories. Chambers's Journal. 



