Class VI. MEDUSA. SEA-NETTLE. 125 



Gtn. Lin. 3154. Turton Br. Faun. 139. 12- Capil- 



LATA. 



M. body whitish, semipellucid, convex, fra- 

 gile ; margin with sixteen indentures. 



On the Kentish coast. Ed. 



These animals inhabit all our seas ; are gre- 

 garious ; often seen floatins; with the tide in vast 

 numbers ; feed on insects, small fish, &c. which 

 they catch with their claspers or arms. IMany 

 species, on being handled, affect with a nettle- 

 like burning, and excite a redness. The an- 

 tients, and some of the moderns, add something 

 more.* They were known to the Greeks and 

 Ilomans,'\ by the names of Uvsv[xa, ^axxaca-inog, 

 and Pubno marinus, Sea-Lungs. They attri- 

 buted medicinal virtues to them. Dioscorides'^ 

 informs us, that if rubbed fresh on the diseased 

 part, they cured the gout in the feet, and kibed 

 heels, ^^lian^ says, that they were depilatory, 

 and if macerated in vinegar, would take away 

 the beard. Their phosphoric quality is well 



* Prurltum in pudendis, et tiredinem in manibus et oculis 

 movent, atque acrimonia sua, venerem sopitam, vel extinctam 

 excitant. Rondel. 532. In several languages they are called by 

 an obscene name. 



\ Arist. Hist. An. lib. v. c 15. Dioscorides notis MatlhioL 

 341. Plinii, lib. ix, c. 4?. 



X P. 341. § De Animal, lib. xiii. c. 2?. 



