THE NOCTILUCA MILIARIS. 425 
spread over the face of ocean? How comes it that at cer- 
tain times flames issue from the bosom of an element gene- 
rally so hostile to their appearance ? 
Without troubling the reader with the groundless surmises 
of ancient naturalists, or repeating the useless tales of the past, 
I shall at once place myself with him on the stage of our 
actual knowledge of this interesting and mysterious subject. 
It is now no longer a matter of doubt that many of the inferior 
marine animals possess the faculty of secreting a luminous 
matter, and thus adding their mite to the grand phenomenon. 
When we consider their countless multitudes, we shall no longer 
wonder at such magnificent effects beg produced by creatures 
individually so insignificant. 
In our seas it is chiefly a minute gelatinous animal, the 
Noctiluca miliaris, most probably an aberrant member of the 
infusorial group, which, as it were, 
repeats the splendid spectacle of the 
starry heavens on the surface of the 
ocean. In form it is nearly globular, 
presenting on one side a groove, from 
the anterior extremity of which issues 
a peculiar curved stalk or appendage, 
marked by transverse lines, which 
might seem to be made use of as an Neclilecainiliaris: 
organ of locomotion. Near the base of (Highly magnified.) 
this tentacle is placed the mouth, which passes into a dilatable 
digestive cavity, leading, according to Mr. Huxley, to a dis- 
tinct anal orifice. From the rather firm external coat proceed 
thread-like prolongations through the softer mass of the body, so 
as to divide it into irregular chambers. This little creature, 
which is just large enough to be discerned by the naked eye 
when the water in which it may be swimming is contained in a 
glass jar exposed to the light, seems to feed on diatoms, as their 
loricae may frequently be detected in its interior. It multiplies 
by spontaneous fission, and the rapidity of this process may be 
inferred from the immensity of its numbers. A single bucket 
of luminous sea-water will often contain thousands, while for 
miles and miles every wave breaking on the shore expands in a 
sheet of living flame. It was first described by Forster in the 
Pacific Ocean ; it occurs on all the shores of the Atlantic, and the 
