632 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1810. 



Mr. Bajon observed during the 

 migration of the dorados, &c. that 

 their bodies were covered with 

 luminous points. These, however, 

 proved, upon examination, to be 

 minute spherical particles that 

 adhered to the surface of these 

 fishes ; and, he adds, appeared to 

 bepreciselythe samesort of points 

 that illuminated the whole of the 

 sea at the time. They were, there- 

 fore, in all probability, the minute 

 kind of medusa which I shall 

 have occasion to describe here- 

 after. 



Godeheu de Riville states, in a 

 paper sent to the Academy of 

 Sciences atParis, that, on opening 

 the scomber pelamis while alive, 

 he found in different parts of its 

 body an oil which gave out much 

 light : but it should be observed, 

 that Riville had a particular theory 

 to support, for which this fact was 

 very convenient, and that other 

 parts of his memoir bear marks of 

 his inaccuracy. It may be added, 

 that if the oil of fishes were usu- 

 ally luminous, which Riville sup- 

 posed, it would be almost univer- 

 sally known, instead of resting on 

 a solitary observation. 



As far as I am able to deter- 

 mine, from what I have seen, the 

 faculty of exhibiting light during 

 life does not belong to the class of 

 fishes. It appears probable, that 

 some fishes may have acquired the 

 character of being luminous from 

 evolving light soon after death. 



Some species of lepas, murex, 

 and cbama, and some star-fish 

 have been said to possess the power 

 of shining; and the assertion has 

 been repeated by one writer after 

 another, but without quoting any 

 authority. 



Brugueire upon one occasion 



saw, as he supposed, common 

 earth-worms in a luminous state ; 

 all the hedges were filled with 

 them ; he remarked that the light 

 resided principally in the poste- 

 rior part of the body. 



Flaugergues pretended to have 

 seen earth-worms luminous in 

 three instances; it was at each 

 time in October ; the body shone 

 at every part, but most brilliantly 

 at the genital organs. 



Notwithstanding this concur- 

 rence of testimony, it is next to 

 impossible, that animals so fre- 

 quently before our eyes as the 

 common earth-worms should be 

 endowed with so remarkable a 

 property, without every person 

 having observed it. If they only 

 enjoyed it during the season for 

 copulation, still it could not have 

 escaped notice, as these creatures 

 are usually found joined together 

 in the most frequented paths, and 

 in garden walks. 



In different systems of natural 

 history, the property of shining is 

 attributed to the cancer pulex. 

 The authorities for this opinion 

 are Hablitzl, and Thules and Ber- 

 nard. The former observed, upon 

 one occasion, a cable that was 

 drawn up from the sea exhibit 

 light, which, upon closer inspec- 

 tion, was perceived to be covered 

 by these insects. Thules and Ber- 

 nard reported that they met with 

 a number of this species of can- 

 cer on the borders of a river, en- 

 tirely luminous. I am, neverthe- 

 less, disposed to question the lu- 

 minous property of the cancer pu- 

 lex, as I have often had the ani- 

 mal in my possession, and never 

 perceived it emit any light. 



The account given by Linnaeus 

 of the scolopendra phosphorea is 



