'A Tiny Man-o'-War 



r 



row of long blue tentacles. Large numbers of 

 little jelly-fishes are constantly budding off from 

 the sides of the reproductive polypites and 

 swimming away in the water; but their further 

 development is unknown. 



" Porpita linnaeana is related to Vellela, but 

 is smaller, being only about one inch in diame- 

 ter; also the disk is flat and circular, and there 

 is no sail-like ridge to the float. When seen 

 in the water it appears as a deep blue circle, 

 while the chambered float at the center glistens 

 with a beautiful greenish iridescence. Under- 

 neath we find feeding polypites and tentacles 

 very much as in Vellela. Porpita is rare along 

 our coast, but between Cuba and South Caro- 

 lina it is sometimes so abundant as to fleck the 

 ocean for miles with specks of brilliant blue." 



None of these wanderers, probably, ever sur- 

 vives our winter, and few, if any, escape it by 

 returning to the Gulf Stream, against whose 

 current they could make little headway if they 

 tried* 



