160 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 



the bucket of salt water, but it shows the relative difference of tempera- 

 ture, which was very perceptible when the parts were touched. The 

 pain began to get less in about an hour, ceasing first in the chest and 

 shoulders ; his pulse did not exceed 76 at any time. The men had 

 various experiences to relate in reference to the effects of meddling 

 with Portuguese Men-of-War. The captain predicted confidently that 

 the pain would cease entirely at sunset; the mate said it would last 

 three hours, because he had once kicked one of " them stingers" with 

 his bare foot as it lay stranded on the sea shore, and the pain had 

 lasted that length of time. The captain's prediction was nearer the 

 truth, as the man was stung at 6 p m., and by sunset, which was 

 about 7.40, the pain was very much less ; but he had a bad headache, 

 and was quite unable to make any use of his hand. Next morning 

 the rash had disappeared; the hand was swollen, and could not be 

 closed ; the ringers were " numb," and upon testing the sensibility of the 

 skin, I found that it was really absent ; he could not haul a rope pro- 

 perly with the right hand for a couple of days. On going to look at 

 the animal, which had done all this mischief, about half an hour after 

 it had been caught, I found the Physalia with the bladder still dis- 

 tended, though shrivelled and quivering ; the beautiful colours, which 

 it had shown when afloat, were dimmed and disappearing, and the 

 long fringed tails were sticking to the bottom of the boat, as was a 

 quantity of mucus which they had discharged ; it was difficult to get 

 the air out of the bladder, even when stabbed with a knife. The men 

 very willingly heaved it overboard, and mopped out the boat well, cor- 

 rectly believing that the mucous secretion from the animal long retained 

 its stinging properties. 



Dr. George Bennett has described the effects of the sting of a Phy- 

 salia upon himself, and they are so similar to those which I witnessed, 

 that I prefer to quote his observations at length than to abridge it.* " On 

 one occasion," he says, " I tried the experiment of its stinging powers 

 upon myself intentionally, when, on seizing it by the bladder portion, 

 it raised the long cables by muscular contraction of the bands situated 

 at the base of the feelers, and, entwining the slender appendages about 

 my hand and fingers, inflicted severe and peculiarly pungent pain, 

 adhering most tenaciously at the same time, so as to be extremely dif- 

 ficult of removal. The stinging continued during the whole time that 

 the minutest portion of the tentacula remained adherent to the skin. 

 I soon found that the effects were not merely confined to the acute 

 pungency inflicted, but produced a great degree of constitutional irri- 

 tation ; the pain extended upwards along the arm, increasing not only 

 in extent but in severity, apparently acting along the course of the 

 absorbents, and could only be compared to a severe rheumatic attack ; 

 the pulse was accelerated, and a feverish state of the whole system was 

 produced ; the muscles of the chest even were affected, the same dis- 



Gatherings of a Naturalist in Australasia," p. 7. 



