The .Wit of the WM 



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The stinging cells which serve to render help- 

 less its prey are also the defense of the physalia. 

 They are the batteries of guns of this Portu- 

 guese man-o'-war, and cause it to be avoided 

 by many fishes and other animals that might 

 otherwise like to eat it. If you should put your 

 hand into this tangle you would quickly with- 

 draw it, red and smarting almost as if you had 

 thrust it into flame. 



Big things like whales and turtles gulp down 

 the physalias, but even the green turtle, which 

 is fond of them, is often rendered almost blind 

 by the stings inflicted upon its lidless eyes ; and 

 Professor Mayer says that the loggerhead in- 

 variably shuts its eyes when it seizes one. 

 Nevertheless, extraordinary as it may appear, 

 certain small fishes habitually hide themselves 

 beneath this fiery veil from their worse enemies 

 without ; they go and come after their own food, 

 accompany the physalia as it travels, and live 

 amid its tentacles as a refuge. Yet, for many 

 of them, it is only a leaping from the ashes into 

 the fire, for every now and then their protector 

 seizes and consumes one of the panic-stricken 



