PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR. 



27 



shores of Key West, Florida, our hands have been severely 

 stung by them, the burning, smarting pain lasting for hours. 



A Siphonophore, such as Phy- 

 salia, for example, may be com- 

 pared to a colony of Hydrac- 

 tinia, in which there are nutritive 

 and reproductive zooids and me- 

 dusa buds. In Physalia, how- 

 ever, there arc four kinds of 

 zooids — i.e., (1) locomotive, and 

 (2) reproductive, with (3) barren 

 medusa buds, which are called 

 the "swimming bells," and (4) 

 the nutritive zooids or "feeders," 

 a set of digestive tubes which 

 nourish the entire floating col- 

 ony. 



The Portuguese man-of-war 

 consists of long locomotive ten- 

 tacles, which, when the animal 

 is driven by its broad sail or 

 float before the wind, stretch out 

 in large individuals from thirty 

 to fifty feet. These large Hydra- 

 like zooids are arranged in small 

 groups, arising from a hollow 

 stem communicating with the 

 stomach extending between the 

 innei' and outer wall of the float. 

 The "feeders" are of two kinds, 

 large and small, and are clustered in branches growing 

 from a common hollow stem, also communicating with the 

 stomach. 



Glass II. — Actinozoa {Sea- Anemones and Coral Polyps). 

 General Characters of Actinozoans. — The Actinia or sea- 

 anemone is the type of this class, the difEerent kinds of 



Fig. 2S.— Physalia. or Portuguese 

 man-of-war. Natural size. 



