JELLY FISHES. 5l 



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 monster's path, 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 his coils, seeking 

 no combat with the mightier biped, he casts loose his enven- 

 omed 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 

 gave the word of attack." 



No doubt Forbes had good grounds for his statement in the 

 experience of one of these delicate and nervous persons who 

 suffer more mentally than physically, and whose imaginative 

 powers would create a horror out of their contact with a spider, 

 or even its web. The mischief is that the bookmakers, who 

 have no practical knowledge of their subjects, go on quoting 

 Forbes approvingly, and on this slight foundation characterise 

 the whole jelly-fish race as stinging creatures. It seems very 

 probable that some of the larger tropical forms that have the 

 stinging power are far more virulent than those inhabiting 

 British seas ; but I have handled the Hairy Stinger and lifted 

 it from the water with my bare hands and experienced no dis- 

 comfort from the operation. 



The Rev. J. G. Wood improved upon Forbes, and described 

 the pain inflicted by Cyanea as being at first like that following 

 contact with the stinging nettle of our hedgerows; getting 

 more severe it causes a sharp pain to flit right through the 

 nervous system, the heart and lungs suffer spasmodically. 

 This state of affairs lasts for ten or twelve hours, and then for 

 several days the skin is so sensitive that the sufferer can 

 scarcely bear the contact of clothes ; and it is months before 

 the shooting pains depart. 



