182 HISTORY OF 



light resembling that of phosphorus. Some have 

 given these animals the name of sea-nettles, be- 

 cause they burn the hands of those that touch 

 them, as nettles are found to do. They are often 

 seen fastened to the rocks, and to the largest sea- 

 shells, as if to derive their nourishment from 

 them. If they be taken and put into spirit of 

 wine, they will continue for many years entire ; 

 but if they be left to the influence of the air, they 

 are, in less than four-and-twenty hours, melted 

 down into limpid and offensive water. 



In all of this species, none are found to possess 

 a vent for their excrements, but the same passage 

 by which they devour their food, serves for the 

 ejection of their faeces. These animals, as was 

 said, take such a variety of figures, that it is im- 

 possible to describe them under one determinate 

 shape ; but, in general, their bodies resemble a 

 truncated cone, whose base is applied to the 

 rock to which they are found usually attached. 

 Though generally transparent, yet they are found 

 of different colours, some inclining to green, 

 some to red, some to white, and some to brown. 

 In some, their colours appear diffused over the 

 whole surface ; in some, they are often streaked, 

 and in others often spotted. They are possess- 

 ed of a very slow progressive motion, and in 

 fine weather they are continually seen stretching 

 out and fishing for their prey. Many of them 

 are possessed of a number of long slender fila- 

 ments, in which they entangle any small animals 

 they happen to approach, and thus draw them 

 into their enormous stomachs, which fill the 



