"I ON ANIMAL LIFE 83 



electric battery of certain Eels, of the Electric 

 Cat Fish, and the Torpedoes, one of which is 

 said to be able to discharge an amouiit of 

 electricity sufl&cient to kill a Man. 



Some of the Medusae and other Zoophytes 

 are armed by millions of minute organs 

 known as " thread cells." Each consists of a 

 cell,' within which a firm, elastic thread is 

 tightly coiled. The moment the Medusa 

 touches its prey the cells burst and the 

 threads spring out. Entering the flesh as 

 they do by myriads, they prove very effective 

 weapons. 



The ink of the Sepia has passed into a proverb. 

 The animal possesses a store of dark fluid, 

 which, if attacked, it at once ejects, and thus 

 escapes under cover of the cloud thus created. 



The so-called Bombardier Beetles, when at- 

 tacked, discharge at the enemy, from the 

 hinder part of their body, an acrid fluid which, 

 as soon as it comes in contact with air, ex- 

 plodes with a sound resembling a miniature 

 gun. Westwood mentions, on the authority 

 of Burchell, that on one occasion, "whilst 

 resting for the night on the banks of one of 



