344 THE OCRA.N. 



to ; it is oblong, about an inch in length. The buoy- 

 ancy of this float supports the animal at the surface, 

 where it lies with the convexity of the shell down- 

 ward. Three or four drops of a blue liquid are 

 contained in the body, which has been supposed to 

 answer the purpose of concealment in time of danger, 

 by imparting an obscurity to the water ; but it is 

 hardly sufficient for this purpose, as the whole 

 quantity secreted by one animal will not discolour 

 half a pint of water. Beneath the float, at certain 

 seasons, the eggs are suspended by pearly threads ; 

 and as the floats are frequently found in great 

 numbers with eggs thus attached, but separate from 

 the original animals, it is thought that they have the 

 power of throwing off this appendage and forming a 

 new one ; in which case it serves the purpose of 

 sustaining the eggs, and probably the young, within 

 the reach of the light and heat of the sun. 



The Portuguese Man-of-war (Physalis pelagica), 

 numerous in the warm parts of the Atlantic, is still 

 more abundant in the seas of which I am writing. 

 It is a beautiful little creature, though of very simple 

 structure, consisting merely of a semi-transparent 

 membranous bag, round at one end, and pointed at 

 the other, along one side of which runs a wide mem- 

 brane, puckered into perpendicular folds, and capable 

 of being contracted and dilated ; while from the 

 opposite side depends a thick fringe of blue tentacles, 

 among which are some of a great length, and of a 

 crimson and purple hue. The tentacles have the 

 faculty of severely stinging the hand that touches 

 them, though ever so slightly ; and it is probable 



