hulks form after storms a windrow of mimic balloons which explode like torpedoes beneath the feet, as one strolls along the sands. No branch of the animal kingdom contains more beautiful and radiant forms than that which includes the Portuguese man-of-war. They are the fairy crafts of the sea, graceful, seemingly formed of water in some instances, and nearly all so delicate that they usually drop to pieces when captured. I have kept all for a brief time in confinement, but few survived more than a few hours. [Illustration: FIG. 27.--Velella.] [Illustration: FIG. 28.--_A_, Praya; _n´n´_, mouths; _ss_, swimming bells. _B_, single polypite (_p_), enlarged.] In a tank at Santa Catalina Island I had at one time, besides a Portuguese man-of-war, the delicate Velella, a raft of sheeny silver which floated on the surface, having a silvery sail (Fig. 27), beneath which hung short tentacles of a brilliant hue. More beautiful than these were the "swimming bells"--strings of beautiful pink and crystal bells attached to a central cord (Fig. 28). One of these, Praya, three or four feet long, was a veritable string of little pumps, each of which pumped water very rapidly, urging the entire animal along. Each little cup seemed carved in glass and colored by some artist, so perfect were the tints, so delicate was the design. Many of these forms could be seen in the ocean only by fitful glances, so delicate were they. Most beautiful of all these prisoners in the tank was one called Physophora, or by the Italian fishermen, Boguetti. It had a central stem like the glass of a thermometer, the bulb being uppermost and filled with a gas that was almost exact in its resemblance to mercury. When the bulb was full the animal floated at the surface. I have watched the animal force the gas down by repeated restrictions of the tube until it could descend beneath the surface with ease. On the sides of the central pillar were numbers of beautifully tinted pumps, the locomotive organs. Underneath was a mass of lacelike tentacles, richly tinted, purple and vermilion, so Physophora was one of the most gorgeous objects to be imagined. A unique feature of this animal was its rapid movements. When it so desired it dashed around the tank with great velocity, in strange contrast to the labored movements of other jellylike forms, or the utter and complete helplessness of Physalia, Velella, or Porpita. These latter were ships at the mercy of every breeze, the Physalia alone being able to anchor itself on a lea shore, but always beaten in by the heavy surf. IV. THE SEA ANEMONES