HARDWICKE'S SC I£N GE- Q OS SIP. 



13c 



steaming quietly along in one of those huge floating 

 barracks which convey our troops to and from India, 

 ^ye witnessed a luminosity of the sea to such a 

 degree as is, I believe, excessively rare. The whole 

 ocean around us had a milky or chylous appearance, 

 and was studded with innumerable brightly phos- 

 phorescent bodies, varying ia their apparent size 

 from one or two inches to as many feet in diameters 

 displaying, as Dallas describes, " balls of living fire 

 and waving bands of flame." Here and there were 

 single opaque masses, — black, shapeless, and con- 

 trasting strongly with the brilliant light in which 

 they floated,— which I attributed to dead animals 

 of the same species. It was a clear, starlight night, 

 the moon was late in rising, hardly a ripple was on 

 the w^ater, the atmosphere dry, and thermometer 

 78° Fahr. On looking over the ship's side, the 

 scene was one of surpassing interest and extra- 

 ordinary beauty, and had never been witnessed 

 before by hundreds on board, who were no strangers 

 to eastern seas, nor yet to the precise locality in 

 which we then were. Unlike the phosphorescence 

 of uoctiluca, the light was not emitted in sparks, 

 but was steady and continuous, nor was it occa- 

 sioned by the disturbance of the ship, as the i)heno- 

 menon was seen both far ahead of us and at a 

 distance on either side, which could not have been 

 influenced by the ship's track; indeed, there was a 

 well-defined and distant horizon to which the lumi- 

 nosity extended. In about two hours after the 

 luminous appearance was first observed, the moon 

 rose, and the sea again assumed its natural appear- 

 ance, but only to resume its brilliancy on four suc- 

 cessive nights as we neared Bombay, having in that 

 time crossed a belt of upwards of eight hundred 

 miles teeming with animal life. On repeated exa- 

 mination of the water, the temperature was found 

 not increased beyond the normal standard in relation 

 to the air, but after standing for a short time it 

 gave out a strong phosphoric odour, M'hich clung 

 to the hands for a considerable time. The lumi- 

 nosity was found to emanate,— 1st, from large pul- 

 mograde acalephs, probably of the genus pelagiu, 

 studded throughout their substance by dark brown 

 ova about the size of a millet-seed; 2ud, from 

 myriads of polypoid bodies in every stage of deve- 

 lopment, from minute ciliated discs resembling iu- 

 fusory animalcules to the large tentacled budding 

 polype. Doubtless, the whole had a common origin 

 and here, for hundreds of square miles, iu the great 

 Indian Ocean, had we " parthogenesis " on the most 

 gigantic scale. Whether such appearances as I 

 have detailed be due to " combustion," to " rupture 

 of sarcodic filaments," "permanent contraction of 

 sarcodic substance," or the numerous other sup- 

 posed causes of phosphorescence, I know not. I 

 had but few books to consult, and no naturalist 

 companion to explain, but of the many who must 

 have traversed this " white sea " (as we called it) 



during the past few mouths, I trust there may be 

 found some scientific pen to add at least one more 

 theory towards the solution of that quastiovexata, 

 what is phosphorescence ? — Robert Nehon, R.N. 



Vakiety or Lime Hawk-moth.— I found in my 

 breeding-cage on the 23rd of April, a perfect spe- 

 cimen of the lime hawk, but such an extraordinary 

 variety that I think a brief description may prove 

 interesting to some of your readers. The insect 

 measures two inches one line across the wings ; the 

 ground colour is very much lighter than in most 

 specimens, but the peculiar and most marked point 

 of difference is that the olive-green median band is 

 represented only by a small, dark olive-green, heart- 

 shaped spot, measuring only two lines iu length 

 and one in width, and pointing towards the hind 

 margin. So difl'erent, in fact, is the appearance of 

 the insect that a brother entomologist to whom I 

 showed it thought at first it was a distinct species. 

 — JF. Loio Serjeant. 



Birds and PuniROSES.- Mr. Charles Darwin 

 having expressed his opinion that the development 

 of primroses was interfered with through birds 

 biting off the young flower, apparently for the 

 purpose of obtaining the nectar. Nature publishes 

 letters on the subject from various parts of Eng- 

 land. At Plymouth birds are in the habit of thus 

 cutting the flowers of the polyanthus and primrose, 

 atid in Hampshire the same flowers are attacked by 

 blackbirds. Dr. H. Gladstone says that both prim- 

 roses and crocuses are thus bitten off by sparrows 

 in London gardens, and Professor Thiseltou Dyer 

 noticed the habitual destruction of the crocus in 

 the neighbourhood of Hammersmith by sparrows. 

 On the other hand, persons writing from Hertford 

 and Torquay have examined large beds of primroses- 

 which have not been attacked in this manner. It 

 has been suggested, with some probability, that the 

 birds may be in search of small insects which infest 

 the flowers, and this should apply more forcibly in 

 the case of the crocus, the neciar-bearing portion 

 of whose flower is almost buried in the earth. The 

 subject is still occupying considerable attention, 

 and we draw attention to it iu the hope that some 

 of our readers may note down their experiences. 



Neotropical Birds.- Dr. Sclater and Mr. 0. 

 Salvin have published a complete list of all the 

 genera and species of birds ascertained to occur in 

 Central and South America, or the region termed 

 the Neotropical. This list enumerates no less than 

 3,500 species, above 2,000 of which belong to the 

 Passerine group, and above 1,500 to the other 

 orders of birds, every one of which, except that 

 including the wingless birds of New Zealand, has 

 its representatives in this region. 



Larv^ from Paris.— I have little doubt that 

 the larva) found by "E. D. M.," at Paris, were 



