148 PROJECTILE WEAPONS. 



family are weapons of offence. On being alarmed or 

 rudely handled, from several of the warts on the body 

 the animal shoots forth these threads, which exactly 

 resemble white sewing-cotton, to the length of four or 

 even six inches ; and under circumstances of great 

 irritation an immense bundle of such threads is pro- 

 jected from the mouth. These filaments are not 

 wasted : they are shot out in a straight line, but remain 

 •attached to the animal, and presently all trace of them 

 has disappeared. They are withdrawn again into the 

 body. 



This curious result, which I did not anticipate, I 

 proved by carefully watching the process with a lens. 

 The naked eye can readily perceiv^e that each thread 

 is gradually corrugated into small irregular coils at 

 that end which is next the animal, while the free end 

 remains straight. By applying a pocket lens with a 

 power of 1 5 diameters to the affixed end, T perceived 

 that it was sucked in to the wart from which it had 

 proceeded, the orifice of which was clearly visible. 

 Fixing my attention on some part of the thread near 

 the wart, I saw it rapidly approach, and at length 

 disappear within its cavity, and the same process went 

 on constantly, and with all the projected threads toge- 

 ther, until all were retracted. 



These threads have, I feel assured, no direct con- 

 nexion with the generative function ; they are weapons 

 of offence, and very effective ones. Thefatal effects pro- 

 duced by their adhesive contact upon a little fish I have 

 already described ("vide ante, j). lib J. Their power of 

 adhesion is remarkable, and must have been felt by 

 every one who has handled the species with the fingers ; 



