354 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



and large clusters of barnacles appeared, which, having no 

 doubt devoured the soft parts of the Velellae, now invested their 

 horny skeletons. As the ship advanced, the number of the 

 barnacle clusters augmented, which, to judge from the various 

 sizes of the individuals, must have taken some time for their 

 formation, and were apparently destined to increase until the 

 final destruction of the Velellse hosts, into which, from their 

 greater weight, they were continually drifting deeper and 

 deeper by the action of the currents. Again two or three days 

 elapsed, and as the surface of the sea occupied by both species 

 of animals extended at the least over four degrees of latitude, 



. Vi tella tpirans. somewhat enlarged. 

 One of Its smaller polypites, much magnified, v. Crest. A. Liver. 0. Mouth of polvpite. 

 I . Its digestive cavity, tf . Rounded elevations, containing thread-cells. {. Medusifonn zooids. 



a faint idea may be formed of their numbers. Shoals of 

 dolphins and sperm-whales were busy exterminating the bar- 

 nacles, as these had devoured the Velellse. The whole scene 

 was an example on the grandest scale of the destruction and 

 regeneration perpetually going on in the wastes of the ocean. 



The Physaliae, which far surpass the Velellae in size and 

 beauty, are also inhabitants of the warmer seas, where the Phy- 

 salia caravella, or " Portuguese man-of-war," is the mariner's 

 admiration. On a large float-bladder eight or nine inches long 

 and three inches broad, whose transparent crystal shines in every 



