THE GULF-STEEAM. 255 



tentacles without molestation. He has in so many 

 cases seen this, and even witnessed the actual contact 

 of the fishes with the tentacles, with no inconvenience 

 to the former, that he too hastily concludes that " the 

 urticating organs are innocuous." Surely the premises 

 by no means warrant such an inference. There is no 

 antagonism between the two series of facts witnessed 

 by such excellent observers ; the venomous virulence 

 of these organs has been abundantly proved by many 

 naturalists, myself among the number, and Mr. Bennett, 

 to his cost, as narrated above. We have only to suppose 

 that the injection of the poison is under the control of 

 the Physalia's will, and the impunity of the bold little 

 fishes is sufficiently accounted for. 



That wonderful river that flows with a well-defined 

 course through the midst of the Atlantic, the Gulf- 

 stream, brings on its warm waters many of the deni- 

 zens of the tropical seas, and wafts them to the shores 

 on which its waves impinge. Hence it is that so many 

 of the proper pelagic creatures are from time to time 

 observed on the coasts of Cornwall and Devon. The 

 Portuguese man-of-war is among them, sometimes 

 paying its visits in fleets; more commonly in single 

 stranded hulks. Scarcely a season passes without one 

 or more of these lovely strangers occurring in the 

 vicinity of Torquay ; and from one of these I took the 



