THE CHARACTERS OF THE DEEP-SEA FAUNA 81 



blue highly luminous substance, which not only 

 illuminated the observers' hands and surrounding 

 objects in the vessel in which the creature was con- 

 fined, but also finally communicated a luminosity to 

 the water itself, were poured out apparently from 

 the bases of the antennae.' 



1 The Willemoesictj too, was luminous at two cir- 

 cumscribed points somewhere near the orifices of 

 the genital glands.' 



Again, all the Alcyonarians dredged by the * Chal- 

 lenger ' in deep water were found to be brilliantly 

 phosphorescent when brought to the surface, the 

 light consisting, according to Moseley, of red, 

 yellow, and green rays only. 



Among the Echinoderms we have not many 

 recorded instances of a phosphorescent light being 

 emitted, but it is quite possible that many, if not all 

 of them, may possess this power. The curious deep- 

 sea form Brisinga, that was first discovered by Ch. 

 Asbjornsen, is known to be so brilliantly phosphorescent 

 that it has been called a veritable gloria marls, and 

 writing of the curion s brittle-star Ophiacantha spimdosa 

 (dredged by the 'Porcupine' in 584 fathoms of water), 

 Professor Wyville Thomson remarks that the light 

 was of a ' brilliant green, coruscating from the centre 



G 



