A PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. 53 
beautiful object stranded, just low enough to 
be washed over by the waves. Long ribbon- 
like streamers and fringes, purple and rosy 
pink, floated out for yards beyond its richly 
colored body. Dr. McLean explained that 
the Portuguese man-of-war was a jellyfish be- 
longing to the class Acelephe, which means 
nettles, many members of this class possessing 
a stinging power which makes the name appro- 
priate. “Tom,” he continued, “those beautiful 
threadlike filaments, which at a glance you took 
for seaweeds, are filled with little cells, and each 
cell is a tiny armory where its death-dealing 
weapon is kept. If you had touched but one 
of those beautifully fringed appendages, even 
very softly, every little cell thus touched would 
have burst open, thrusting its poison-charged 
weapon into your flesh. 
“These poison-filled tentacles are its weapons 
of defense and are also used in obtaining its 
food. ‘The sea animal wounded by a sting from 
these lasso cells soon dies and is devoured by 
this singular creature. 
“The home of the Portuguese man-of-war is 
in the tropics, and only occasionally does one 
drift so far into the colder currents. Another 
day we will return and see how much is left of 
this gay privateer. 
