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Published Semi-Monthly at the New York Aquarium, cor. 35th Street and Broadway. 
VOL. 1, 
NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20, 1876. 
NO 6. 
THE PORTUGESE MAN-OF-WAR. 
Though the Portugese navy has long since 
ceased to rule the seas, yet there still remains to 
perpetuate its fame and former greatness a rare 
little sea wonder, which sailors and landsmen 
have alike come to know by the name of the 
Portugese Man-of-War. This interesting and 
beautjjuicrgature 
as the Physalia—a derivation from the Greek, 
signifying bladder. 
“Let us imagine,” says one of its many his¬ 
torians, ‘ ‘ a great cylindrical bladder, dilated in 
the middle, attenuated and rounded at its two 
extremities, of eleven to twelve inches in length, 
and from one to three broad. Its appearance 
is glassy and transparent; its color an imperfect 
purple, passing to a violet, and then to an azure 
above. It is surmounted by a crest limpid and 
pure as crystal, veined with purple and violet in 
decreasing tints. Uuder the vesicle float the 
fleshy filaments, waving and contorted into a 
spiral form, which sometimes descend perpen¬ 
dicularly like so many threads of crystal blue.” 
The accompanying illustrations will serve to 
indicate the general form 
and structure of the Physa¬ 
lia. In the upper figure 
we have the tentacles ex¬ 
tended, and it is stated, on 
the authority of Dr. Ben¬ 
nett, that these long cables 
can be thrown out to a dis¬ 
tance of twelve feet. By 
their aid the creature is able 
to catch and entangle small 
fish, which, when once cap¬ 
tured, are drawn up in con¬ 
tact with the small suckers, 
owing to the wonderful re¬ 
tractile powers of the ten¬ 
tacles. The bladders, when 
fully inflated, present so 
great a surface exposed to 
ue wind, that sailors have 
been naturally led to sup- 
Physalia, with Tentacles Expanded, 
pose that the creature is supplied with sails for 
the sole purpose of navigation. This bladder 
is, however, nothing more than i f s name signi- 
THE PHYS^IjIA. AFLOAT. 
fies, being, in fact, a thin membrane which, it 
is claimed by many, may be inflated at pleasure, 
and is thus designed to enable the possessor to 
float or sink. Along its upper edge there runs 
a sail-like membrane which, when the bladder 
is inflated, assumes an erect position, and thus 
doubtless serves, in some degree, the purpose of 
a sail. There is, it might here be stated,|a 
question among observers whether the Physalia 
ever does descend, founded, no doubt, on the 
fact that the organs which are needed for this 
expansion or contraction of the vesicle are not 
discernible. 
To the observer merely the Physalia presents 
points of interest and peculiarities of structure 
which render it one of the most interesting of 
marine forms. If, however, our interest is so 
excited as to prompt a more intimate scrutiny 
of its parts, we may soon become aware of cer¬ 
tain peculiarities which it were more pleasing to 
know than to experience. In fact, this beauti¬ 
ful and apparently harmless little sea sailor is 
relatively as formidable an adversary as ever were 
the armed hulls of the fleet from which it takes 
its name. At the extremities of each tentacle 
are organs which act as 
stings, and which, when al¬ 
lowed to come in contact 
with the human flesh, poi¬ 
son it in a most painful and 
often serious manner. An 
instance illustrating this 
stinging power is told by 
the voyager Leblond, and 
is endorsed by many other 
of its victims. On one oc¬ 
casion, while this traveler 
was bathing with some 
friends, he amused himself 
by diving, after the manner 
of the native Caribeans; 
that is, he would plunge 
under the wave as it was 
about to break. Having 
once reached the other side 
of the wave and gained the 
