90 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 
seems as if some ancient world were shivered, that breath 
might be infused into every fragment.” 
The power that hydroid zoophytes, as well as not a few 
other marine animals, have of emitting phosphorescent light, 
is a very remarkable property. It has now been observed 
by many, and is well deserving of even more attention than 
it has yet received. 
“The luminous life 
That makes the dark nocturnal ocean bright 
With constellated clusters of rare things 
Group’d or apart; seeming in lustrous grace, 
Fantastic wreaths of many-coloured gems 
Instinct with living fire :——or here and there 
Glittering in golden glory :—flashing forth 
Metallic white—or tremulous silver cinqued 
By ambient tints of sapphire, pink, and blue ; 
As if some opulent spirit of the sea 
Had from his treasury of precious stones, 
Flung up his choicest treasures on the waves 
To bathe their beauties in the meek moonshine.”’ 
This comprehends the various luminous bodies that en- 
lighten the dark deep sea. Crabbe’s Muse, in her evening 
walks by the sea-shore, had not failed to observe these 
beautiful marine creatures, as we may see from the follow- 
ing passage from ‘The Borough,’ which we shall quote, as it 
