310 ZOOLOGY. 



stinging property of the Physalis resides : every other 

 part of the mollusc may be touched with impunity, 

 but the slightest contact of the hand with the cables 

 produces a sensation as painful and protracted as the 

 stinging of nettles ; while, like the effect of that vege- 

 table poison, the skin of the injured part often presents 

 a white elevation or wheal. Nor is the inconvenience 

 confined to the hand : a dull aching pain usually pro- 

 ceeds up the arm and shoulder, and even extends to 

 the muscles of the chest, producing an unpleasant feel- 

 ing of anxiety and difficulty in respiration. Washing 

 the injured part with water rather aggravates than re- 

 lieves the pain, which is best remedied by friction with 

 olive oil. The cables retain their urent property long 

 after they have been detached from the animal; and 

 their viscid secretion, when received on a cloth, re- 

 tains the same virulent principle for many days, and 

 communicates it to other objects facts which tend 

 to prove, that this offensive power of the Physalis re- 

 sides in a peculiar secretion from the cables, and does 

 not depend upon a vital principle in the animal, al- 

 lied to the pseudo-electric power of some fishes, as sug- 

 gested by Carus. 



During a voyage to the East Indies, in 1832, and 

 when becalmed near the coast of Africa, between Cape 

 Verd and Goree, I noticed around the ship a great num- 

 ber of this species, of the largest size and most gaudy 

 colours. Two out of four of the examples we then 

 captured had small fishes, about the size of a minnow, 

 entangled in their short tentacles, and partly decom- 

 posed ; while several other Sea Nettles, floating buoy- 

 antly on the calm and transparent sea, were surrounded 

 by shoals of small fish, swimming and playing about 

 them, as around a bait. What I then witnessed left 



