Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0071
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[Page 71]
To Brazil
Octr. 1768
reason of its swimmers, which line its sides like fringes, & are of a changeable fine colour; Callirhoe bivia Mss, the most lifeless lump of Jelly I have seen, it does not scarcely seems to be possessd of life but for one or two motions we saw it make.
13. Calm this Morn; a shark was taken but not one pilot fish attended him, which is rather uncommon as they seldom are without a shoal of from ten to twenty. At noon I went in the boat, & took the Sallee man Phyllodoce velella Linn. who is a Sailor tho inferior in size to the Portugese man of war, yet not without its beauty, cheifly from the charming blue of its bottom its sail is transparent but not moveable, so it trusts itself to the mercy of the winds without being able to turn to windward as the Portugese man of war maybe can? We saw several of the latter today, & observd many small fish under their tentacula who seemd to shelter there as if with its stings it could defend them from large enemies.