The Occurrence of the Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia), and of a Giant Spider-Crab, “Homola (Paromola) cuvieri,” in the English Channel

Abstract

THE occurrence of the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia) on the English coast is so unusual as to be well worth recording. During March and the early part of April, 1912, numbers of the Atlantic form of Physalia were cast up on our shores at various points between Cardigan Bay and Seaford in Sussex. It was also reported by M. Caullery1 as occurring along with Velella on the French side of the Straits of Dover in the early part of April, 1912. Specimens were also sent to this laboratory on February to this year from Looe, on the south coast of Cornwall. There can be little doubt that the presence of Physalia on the south coast of England in March and April, 1912, was due to the almost continuous high southerly to south-westerly winds indicated in the south-eastern part of the North Atlantic in the meteorological reports for the early part of that year.