102 LOOSE LEAVES ETC. 



mals look like a mass of jelly, with a disk more or less convex, resem- 

 bling tlie head of a mushroom. Their locomotion is assisted by the 

 contractions and dilatations of this disk, from which, as well as from 

 the mouth in the centre, tentacles of various forms and sizes proceed. 

 These are the arms by which the animal seizes its prey. When I say 

 millions floated by us, I mean no exaggeration, — the whole sea appeared 

 to be covered with them, and this continued for many days. The gen- 

 era and species were numerous. The species of one genus, that looked 

 precisely like a dice-box half flattened and that had no tentacles, united 

 themselves together at the sides — sometimes there were as many as 

 twenty thus united, and then they looked exactly like a riband of a yard 

 in length, and four inches wide, floating under the surface. We fished 

 up many by means of a rude net constructed for the occasion, and when 

 brought up, they lost their form, and were nothing more than a shape- 

 less mass of gelatinous matter. 



The luminosity of the sea at night attracted the attention of every 

 one. This is supposed to be occasioned by the minute Crustacea and 

 other microscopic animals with which the sea is crowded, and wl^ich 

 emit a phosphorescent light. ] had bought a good microscope in Paris, 

 and brouglit it out to observe these animalcules, but all the idlers on 

 board immediately surrounded me ; every one wanted a look before I 

 had adjusted the instrument, and the ship rolled so violently, that I 

 could make no observations. 



It was on this voyage, that 1 first saw the flying-fish. (ExocetuSf 

 Lin.) Poor little things, how they did fly from iheir voracious pursu- 

 ers, the dolphins ! They would rise out of the water, skim over the 

 surface about fifty yards and llicn fall in; — having wet their tciv.gs^ they 

 rise again and take another flight, but their persecutors would be rush- 

 ing on after them at a terrible rate. Some, no doubt, escaped, but there 

 must have been a sad havoc among them on that day. 



One calm morning, long before I rose, I heard more than ordinary 

 confusion on deck in a calm, i heard the uproarious voice of a fellow 

 passenger, and 1 knew that something uncommon had occurred. I 

 crept out of my beith to see the fun, and coming on deck 1 saw three or 

 four fish about twice the size of a shad, which had been caught by hook 

 and line. They were Bonetns, and their capture afforded fine sport. 

 Thousands of them followed us for several days, until they were voted 

 a decided bore, especially as they were not very palatable to the taste. 

 1 believe the steerage passengers and sailors relished them greatly. 



About tliis time, we were highly amused for many hours in succes- 

 sion at seeing vast shoals of small fish about ?ix inches in Icngtfi, ri- 



