232 



INSECT MISCELLANIES. 





Monophoni noctiluca. 



number of microscopic animalcules of species still 

 undetermined, which Forster found swimming* in 

 innumerable multitudes in the sea near the Cape of 

 Good Hope, have been confidently asserted to be the 

 cause of the phenomenon. But though these may 

 be partly or sometimes the cause, yet, in the greater 

 number of instances, no animalcules whatever can be 

 discovered in the luminous water, even by the aid of 

 the best glasses. Such was the decision come to by 

 Humboldt from numerous observations in the tropical 

 seas, and his authority is one of the highest which 

 can be adduced *. We had recently an opportunity 

 of repeating these observations at Havre de Grace, 

 and could not discover the slightest trace of animal- 

 cules, although the water which we examined was so 

 strongly luminous, that it shone upon the skin of 

 some night-bathers like scattered clouds of lambent 

 flame, appearing more as a property of the water 

 itself than anything extraneous diffused through it; 

 but we particularly remarked that no light appeared 

 in quiescent water, it being only seen when the 

 * Humboldt, Tableau de la Nature, li. 90. 



