THE IMPENETRABLE SEA 



speculations. Certainly one could make out a case for 

 the belief by instancing contrivance after contrivance — 

 and even creature after creature — on the world's land 

 surfaces which are foreshadowed or duplicated in the 

 oceans or along their coastlines. In many ways the world 

 of dry land is one which is reflected in the world of 

 waters. 



The stinging cells of certain land organisms, such as 

 nettles and thistles, are matched by the stinging cells of 

 the Coelenterates. There is, superficially, nothing ex- 

 traordinary about the resemblance. It seems quite natural 

 and reasonable that stinging cells should be found both 

 in the sea and on the land, as protective devices. The 

 Portuguese man-of-war is not a duplication of a land 

 creature, but a weird and sensational caricature of some- 

 thing made on land and launched by man into the sea, 

 something indicated in its name : a ship. 



It is a singularly beautiful creature, despite its almost 

 nightmare-like grotesqueness. It is usually found floating 

 — sometimes singly but usually in "fleets" — in tropical 

 seas, but in the latter part of the summer it is often seen 

 off the coast of New England. It is a jelly-fish of the 

 genus Physalia^ but any such brief and conventional 

 description does the man-of-war injustice. In all the 

 realm of nature there is no creature more curious and 

 fascinating. 



Bearing the likeness of a ship, it might more accurately 

 be described as an armada. For it comprises the parts and 

 features of many ships. It is less like a single life-form 

 than a community, yet all the "individuals" which com- 

 pose it are united in an organism which moves as one and 

 lives with a common mysterious purpose. It can be called 

 a "ship", and it has a crew — yet it has no captain. It is 

 less like a democracy than a totalitarian state — save that 

 it has no dictator: the "citizens" act as one, yet no indi- 

 vidual controls them. Each man-of-war is a lovely vessel 

 of rose, blue, purple and gold. It is a rainbow-hued, 



120 



