Far Eastern and Classical Antiquity 31 



Of the shell fish kind are the Dactyli, so called of the likeness of mens 

 nailes, which they resemble. The nature of this fish is to shine of them- 

 selves in the dark night, when all other light is taken away. The more 

 moisture they have within them, the more light they give: insomuch as 

 they shine in men's mouthes as they be chawing of them: they shine 

 in their hands: upon the floore, on their garments, if any drops of their 

 fattie liquor chaunce to fall by: so as it appeareth, that doubtlesse it is 

 the very juice and humour of the fish which is of that nature, which we 

 doe so wonder at in the whole bodie. 



Jellyfish ^^ are common in the Bay of Naples, where Pliny died 

 during the eruption of Vesuvius, a. d. 79. They were called Pulmo 

 marinus by the Romans, and when boiled in water or taken in wine 

 were considered good for " the gravell and the stone." One kind 

 of jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca, is luminescent, owing to a slime 

 secreted from the outer surface of the bell. As Pliny observed in 

 connection with " Remedies for fevers, etc." (Book XXXII, Chap. 

 10) this slime readily sticks to various surfaces: " Rub a piece of 

 wood with the fish called Pulmo Marinus, it will seeme as though it 

 were on a light fire; in so much as a staffe so rubbed or besmeared 

 with it, may serve instead of a torch to give light before one." 

 Perhaps the statement regarding the " staffe " or walking stick is 

 somewhat exaggerated, but the animal itself is a striking object 

 when stimulated to luminescence. ^° 



Finally Pliny referred to a " fish called the Lanterne," Lucerna 

 piscis (Book IX, Chap. 27) as follows: " There is a Fish commeth 

 ordinarily above the water, called Lucerna, for the resemblance 

 which it hath of a light or lanterne. For it lilleth forth the tongue 

 out of the mouth, which seemeth to flame and burne like fire, and 

 in calme and still nights giveth light and shineth." 



J. Cotte ^^ was inclined to believe that " lucerna " referred to the 

 jellyfish, one of which was named " Persa lucerna " by Haeckel, 

 while Cuvier ^- took the position that the " lucerna piscis " might 

 be the colonies of the tunicate, Pyrosoma, abundant in the Mediter- 

 ranean. They often grow to large size and have the proper shape. 

 This explanation seems fairly probable. Observed from a boat the 



''* In the Greek herbal of Dioscorides, englished by John Goodyer in 1655 (R. T. 

 Gunther reprint, Oxford Univ. Press, 1933, Book II, sec. 39) , the luminescence of the 

 jellyfish, pneumon thalassios, is not mentioned, but its value in medicine is recorded: 

 " Pulmo marinus being beaten small whilst it is new and so applied, doth help such 

 as are troubled with kibes and chillblanes and such as have ye goute." 



*" Although Aristotle used the words " balanos " and " solen " for bivalve shellfish 

 and these words were later associated with luminous molluscs, he does not refer to the 

 luminescence. 



^^ J. Cotte, Poissons et aiiimaux aquatiques au temps de Pline, 244, Paris, 1944. 



*- G. Baron de Cuvier, notes to the Ajasson de Grandsagne translation of Pliny, 1829. 



