Queries and Answers, 



475 



The Portuguese Man of War. (p. 96 282.) — Sir, If the accompanying 

 sketches (^gs. 95. and 96 ) and description will convey a good idea of the 



animal, they are at your service. In Stark's Elements of Natural History it 

 will be found under the division Radiata, class -4calepha : it is the Physalia,or 

 Phjsalis pelagica, of Lamarck. When seen floating on the surface of the 

 water, the most conspicuous part of the animal appears to be an oval sub- 

 trigonal membrane, inflated with air, having an elevated ridge running along 

 its back like a cock's comb, strongly marked with indentations, and tinged 

 along the summit of a beautiful rosy hue, the extremities of the inflated 

 bladder being of a fine purple and violet colour. Underneath the membrane, 

 and nearest to the larger extremity, are attached numerous appendages ; some 

 are very short and thick, while others are very long, many upwards of 30 in. 

 in length. Some are straight, others twisted, and a few are spirally twisted, 

 like the spring-wire of a bell. These appendages, according to Cuvier, 

 form the suckers, tentacula, and ovaries, and are of a beautiful violet and 

 blue colour, intermixed with purple. The smaller extremity is free, and 

 the animal possesses the power of lifting it out of the water altogether ; 

 raising it aloft into the air, while the larger one is kept floating on the 

 water by the weight of the fleshy appendages already mentioned. They 

 have the power of contracting and dilating their membranous bag at plea- 



