10 POWER OF STINGING. 
naked-eyed Medusz, though I have seen appearances, both in the higher Discophore and in 
the Ciliograda, which would induce me to admit their presence in some Acalephe. Will 
has observed that in Geryonia there is a small cavity beside the otolitic vesicle, which is 
filled with a yellowish-green matter, in which the vesicle itself is bedded to a third of its 
circumference, and he considers this a ganglion, whilst he admits it cannot be proved to 
be so histologically. I believe I have seen a similar appearance in several species, but 
not so constantly as to permit of the assignment of so important an office as the duty of 
a nervous ganglion to the tissue. Frey and Leuckhart recognised the same bodies in 
Geryonia, but doubt their nervous nature, and remark that the individual masses in 
this instance did not seem to be sufficiently distinctly separated from the neighbouring 
parenchyma, as to warrant their concluding with certainty that such bodies are peculiar 
isolated formations. 
Power of Stinging.—In the minds of most people who have been at the sea-side 
the notion of a Medusa naturally associates itself with that of a nettle, smce both the animal 
and the plant enjoy an equal reputation for their stinging powers, and for the production of 
an extremely similar, though not the less unpleasant sensation, when incautiously handled or 
inadvertently touched. The term Acalephe, so frequently applied to the whole of the 
Medusa tribe, is significant of their nettle-like nature. Yet it is not improbable that this 
offensive faculty of stinging is possessed by only a small minority of the sea-jellies—a 
minority chiefly, if not wholly, composed of the steganopthalmatous species. Among them 
the Cyanea capillata of our seas is a most formidable creature, and the terror of tender- 
skinned bathers. With its broad, tawny, festooned, and scalloped disk, often a full foot or 
even more across, it flaps its way through the yielding waters, and drags after it a long train 
of riband-like arms, and seemingly interminable tails, marking its course when the body is far 
away from us. Once tangled in its trailing “hair,” the unfortunate who has recklessly 
ventured across the graceful monster’s path, too soon writhes in prickly torture. Every 
struggle but binds the poisonous threads more firmly round his body, and then there is no 
escape ; for when the winder of the fatal net finds his course impeded by the terrified human 
wrestling in its coils, he, seeking no combat with the mightier biped, casts loose his enve- 
nomed arms and swims away. The amputated weapons severed from their parent body vent 
vengeance on the cause of their destruction, and sting as fiercely as if their original proprietor 
itself gave the word of attack. The Cyanea Lamarckii possesses a like dangerous power, 
and Pelagia cyanella also, though very faintly, as I have experienced. But, unless Chrysaora 
hysoscella sting, no other Meduse of our seas besides those mentioned, have been observed, at 
least by me, or naturalists known to me, to possess this noxious property. I have in vain 
endeavoured to elicit such nettling proofs of rage in any of the naked-eyed species, though I 
have stirred, and grasped, and rubbed together hundreds of them belonging to many genera. 
It is right, however, to notice this matter, for it may yet be found that either at particular 
seasons, or under peculiar circumstances, more than one species can sting. Dicquemare has 
stated that certain species of Oceania sting, though very slightly, and only when they come 
in contact with very sensitive parts, such as the eyes. Not being ambitious of suffering 
stone-blindness by playing too closely with even the smallest gorgon’s head, I have never 
ventured to repeat the worthy Abbé’s experiment, and prefer keeping my eyes intact to 
