PHYSOPHORID&. 



attention, and has been described under many names. Sailors call 

 it the sea-bladder, from its resemblance to that organ ; it is also 

 known as the Portuguese man-of-war, from its fancied resemblance to 

 a small ship as it floats along under its tiny sail. Naturalists aftei 

 Eschscholtz call it Physalia irtriailus, from the Greek word, $V<TO.\\S, 



Fig. 48. Offensive apparatus of Physophora hydrostatica 



a bubble, and ntricuhis from its stinging powers. It was long thought 

 that the Physalia was an isolated individual. But, according to 

 recent researches, it forms, like the species already described, an 

 animal republic. 



Let us imagine a great cylindrical bladder dilated in the middle, 

 attenuated and rounded at its two extremities, of eleven or twelve 



