THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 19 



them at depths which exceed the height of the greatest 

 mountain chains, and under the 

 influence of certain meteorolog- 

 ical changes we see them rise to 

 the surface of its watery ex- 

 panse, where they form immense 

 luminous furrows in the wake of 



the Ships. 7, The Miliary Noctiluca, highly mag- 



rm -14/r-T tvt j_m nitied : Noctiluca miliaria. 



The Miliary Noctiluca is one 

 of those which play the greatest part in the phospho- 

 rescene of the ocean. Seen with the aid of a powerful mi- 

 croscope, this minute animalcule looks like a tiny sphere 

 of diaphanous jelly, bestrewn with luminous points, and 

 carrying a thin filiform appendage, which some naturalists 

 look upon as a sucker. 



Water presents another peculiarity equally strange, and 

 for a long time inexplicable. At times it takes on a blood- 

 red tint, which in every age has startled and alarmed the 

 vulgar. 



From the remotest times men speculated upon the cause 

 of this phenomenon, which had so much of the marvellous 

 about it, and it was only explained on some strange hypoth- 

 esis or other. But since the discovery of the microscope it 

 has been thoroughly investigated, and naturalists have 

 shown that the redness of the water depends upon the pres- 

 ence of extremely small plants and animals, which, under 

 the influence of certain atmospheric conditions, multiply in 

 such abundance that the mind can hardly realize the mar- 

 vellous rapidity with which they spring into existence. 



A Belgian savant, M. Morren, after collecting together 



