156 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [450] 
The specimens measured about an inch in length.” The fishes found 
by us were from a quarter of an inch to three inches long, and we 
never saw them swallowed, and never found them in the stomachs of 
any among the several dozen jelly-fishes, of the different kinds that we 
found accompanied by the fishes, although we found young squids and 
other kinds of marine animals in a half-digested condition. It is pos- 
sible that the observation of Mr. Agassiz was made on them when 
kept in confinement, and that the fishes devoured were not in a perfectly 
healthy and natural condition, so as to resist the stings of the nettl- 
ing organs. But if his fish belonged to a family different from ours, the 
difference may be peculiar to the respective fishes. Yet our observa- 
tions afford only negative evidence, and it may be that this is one of 
the peculiarities of this remarkable companionship; though, if so, we 
should suppose that the race of Poronotus would soon become extinct, 
for we never observed the young under any other circumstances. The 
adult fishes of this species, when five or six inches long, were often taken 
in the pounds in considerable numbers. 
Among the mouth-folds and lobes of the ovaries, beneath the disk of 
Cuanea, we very often found large numbers of living specimens of a 
delicate little jelly-fish, nearly globular in form, the Margelis Carolinen- 
sis, which we also frequently took in the towing-nets in the evening. » 
In the winter season the Mnemiopsis Leidyi is often abundant in Long 
Island Sound, and I have also observed it in New York harbor in Feb- 
ruary, in large numbers. At Wood’s Hole Mr. V. N. Edwards found 
the Pleurobrachia rhododactyla, both young and nearly full-grown, very 
abundant in February and March; at Watch Hill, April 13, I found 
both adult specimens and young ones not more than an eighth of an 
inch in diameter. It probably occurs through the entire year, for we 
frequently met with it in mid-summer in Vineyard Sound. Mr. 8. I. 
Smith also found it very abundant at Fire Island, on the south side of 
Long Island, in September. 
In July and August we obtained several large and perfect specimens 
of the curious “ Portuguese man-of-war,” Physalia Arethusa. This species 
occurs as far west as Watch Hill, Rhode Island, where it was observed 
by Professor D. C. Eaton. The boatmen at that place state that it is 
frequent there in summer. The float of this species was generally deep, 
rich crimson or purple, and the hydroids beneath it were commonly 
bright blue in the specimens observed by us. The float or air-bag is, 
however, sometimes blue and sometimes rose-color. 
According to Professor Agassiz, (Contributions, vol. IV, p. 335,) the 
floating bag in windy weather always presents the same side to the 
wind, and it is upon the windward side that the bunches of very long 
locomotive hydroids of the lower surface are situated, and these at such 
times are stretched out to an enormous length, and thus act as anchors 
to retard the motion by friction in passing through the water. The 
smaller locomotive hydroids, the feeding hydroids, and the reproductive 
hydroids, are on the lee side. 
