Letter: Sting in the tale

Sir: Readers of Sherlock Holmes' Case-Book would know that the Lion's Mane jellyfish (Letters, 10 July) could be found in British waters, for in a short story of that name Holmes himself - in 1906, now retired to the Sussex coast and without Watson - recounts the following tale.

A young schoolmaster with a weak heart is found dying a few yards from the seashore, his back covered in agonisingly painful weals. A rival in love is suspected, but Holmes remembers an account in Out of Doors by J. G. Wood of his near-fatal encounter with Cyanea Capillata - the Lion's Mane jellyfish. The suspect is cleared and Holmes discovers the real murderer, driven to the coast by a recent gale, in a rock pool and dispatches it by dropping a large boulder on to it.

Incidentally, J. G. Wood states that his life was saved after his encounter with the jellyfish by drinking a bottle of brandy.

Yours sincerely,

ANDREW JOHNSON

Ormskirk, Lancashire