FOOT ON THE STINGING PEOPEKTIES OF THE PHTSALIA. 163 



marine productions, besides the hydrostatic Acalephae, have urticating 

 properties; Darwin mentions,"* that he was a good deal surprised by 

 finding two species of coral of the genus Millepora (if. complanata and 

 alcicornis) possessed of the power of stinging ; the stinging property 

 seemed to vary in different specimens ; when a piece was pressed or 

 rubbed on the tender skin of the face or arm, a pricking sensation was 

 usually caused, which came on after the interval of a second, and 

 lasted for a few minutes ; little red spots were produced on the tender 

 skin of the arm, which appeared as if they would have formed watery 

 pustules, but did not ; the Aphysia, or sea-slug of the Cape de Verd 

 Islands, a flexible coralline, allied to Sertularia, and in the East Indian 

 Sea a species of sea weed, are said to be endowed with this power of 

 stinging. 



In connexion with this subject, I may be allowed to allude to the 

 stinging power of some of the Medusae of the Irish Sea. I have been 

 stung myself by one of the species of Cyanasa, and had one leg and side 

 covered with the nettle-rash, which generally results from contact with 

 their long filamentary tentacles. The animal passed in front of me 

 while swimming. It was moving horizontally through the water by 

 the alternate contraction and dilatation of its umbrella-like disk, trail- 

 ing its long appendages after it ; not knowing its powers at the time, I 

 swam across its path, dragging it up close to my side by doing so ; though 

 aware at once that it had stung me, the sensation was not in any de- 

 gree painful until after I had come out of the water. The delicate 

 skins of children, or tender parts, such as the month or eyes, suffer 

 very much from contact with the stinging Medusae of our seas. Dr. 

 Tyrrell has published the case of a fisherman who lost the fore-finger 

 of his right hand from mortification, consequent upon the sting of a 

 Medusa. This man, in clearing out a net, took a Medusa from it, when 

 he found a sudden stinging sensation run up his finger, which had been 

 slightly wounded before. The pain gradually subsided, and he took 

 no more notice of the matter for two days, when swelling and pain in 

 the finger came on suddenly ; in seven days after the receipt of the 

 sting the whole finger was gangrenous, and had to be amputated in 

 consequence.f The stinging Medusas of our seas belong to the section 

 of the Acalephae, termed by Eschscholtz Discophorae, from the shape of 

 the upper portion of their bodies, which forms a hemispherical disk, 

 and but two genera — Aurelia and Cyansea — are endowed with this 

 property in a marked degree. By those who, from a residence at the 

 seaside, have had opportunities of observing the stinging effects, in au- 

 tumn, of the Aurelia aurita and Cyancea capillata, the application of an 

 alkaline and stimulating lotion has been recommended : for example, a 

 drachm of bicarbonate of potash, a drachm of sesquicarbonate of am- 

 monia, dissolved in half an ounce of spirits of hartshorn, and six ounces 

 of camphor mixture. J 



* "Naturalist's Voyage round the World,'* p. 464. 

 f " Dub. Quart. Jour. Med. Sci.," Aug., 1864, p. 210. 

 % "Brit. Med. Jour.," Jan. 5, 1861, p. 7. 



