PORTUGUESE MAN OF WAR. 287 



MRS. F. 



It inhabits the tropical seas, but, during the summer 

 months of the year, it is found injiigher latitudes. Its colors 

 are as evanescent as they are beautiful, and the bright crim- 

 son, green, and purple tints, speedily lose their brilliancy 

 when the animal is taken out of the water. 



ESTHER. 



I have understood that their appearance near the sea 

 coast is considered as an indication of an approaching tem- 

 pest. 



MRS. F. 



It is. But I have not yet mentioned its stinging properties. 

 Mr. Bennet, the intelligent traveller in New South Wales, 

 tells us that it is amusing to see the eagerness with which 

 persons endeavor to secure the gaudy prize; but they soon 

 find, by experience, the rashness of the chase, for no sooner 

 do they grasp the curious animal, than, encircling its long 

 filiform appendages over the hands and fingers of its captu- 

 rer, it inflicts such pungent pain, by means of an acrid fluid 

 which it discharges from its tentacula, as to cause him to 

 drop his prize. 



ESTHER. 



ESTHER. 



Is the sting, then, so very severe 1 ? 



Yes; but the intensity of the effects depend, of course, upon 

 the size of the animal; and, after it has been long out of 

 water, its power is diminished. Doubtless this property has 

 been given to these little animals, by that Gracious Being 

 whose "tender mercies are over all his works," to serve both 

 as an instrument of defence, and also as a means of procuring 

 and benumbing their prey. 



ESTHER. 



The French call them Galeres, and the old navigators 



