126 MEDUSA. SEA-NETTLE, Class VI. 



known ; nor was it overlooked by the antients. 

 Pliny notes, that if rubbed with a stick it will 

 appear to burn, and the wood to shine all over.* 

 The same elegant naturalist remarks, that when 

 they sink to the bottom of the sea, they portend 

 a continuance of bad weather. I must not 

 omit, that Aristotle, and Athenceus after him, 

 give to some species the apt name of Kvify, or 

 the nettle, from their stinging quality.^ 



The antients divided their Kwfy into two 

 classes, those that adhered to rocks, the Actinia 

 of Linnceus ; and those that wandered through 

 the whole element. The last are called by later 

 writers Urticce Solutce; by LinncEus, Medusa ; 

 by the common people Sea Gellies and Sea 

 Blubbers. 



I do not find that the moderns make any use 

 of them. They are left, the prey of basking 

 sharks, perhaps of other marine animals. 



* Lib. xviii. c. 35. 



f Arist, Hist An. lib. v. c. lo. Athenceus, lib. iii. p. go. 



