54 THE HALL OF SHELLS. 



" The whole Medvsoe family are very curi- 

 ous and interesting, but none more so than the 

 Physalia — our acquaintance of to-day," con- 

 tinued the doctor, losing no opportunity of 

 instructing the children, who were delighted 

 with the tales he told then, " Instances of the 

 stinging powers of this inofiensive-looking crea- 

 ture are given, which show that Tom may con- 

 gratulate himself that he was prompt m obey- 

 ing orders. There is a story told of a young 

 sailor who, attracted as Tom was by the beauty 

 of this jellyfish, sprang into the sea to capture 

 it as it passed near the ship. When he reached 

 it the creature entangled him in its threadlike 

 filaments ; in an agony of pain he cried for help 

 and had barely been drawn on to the vessel 

 when the intensity of the inflammation pro- 

 duced by the stings of these tentacles occa- 

 sioned brain fever, 



" The different members of this family in- 

 habit all seas. Some of them are very large, 

 reaching to two feet across the disk, with their 

 tentacular appendages extending like threads 

 of many colors ; others of diminutive size float 

 in immense shoals, and with . their phospho- 

 rescence illumine the sea till every wave is ' a 

 flash of golden fire,' There seems no end to 

 the number and variety of these brilliant little 



