On the Luminous Appearance of the Sea. ioj; 



oTtfie fea' to phofphoric infe&s f. The abbe Nollet, in par- 

 ticular, while at Venice in the year 1749, paid great atten- 

 tion to this phenomenon, and was confirmed in his opinion 

 by the following observation:— Having remarked that the 

 lea water in the harbour of Portofino emitted a ftrong light, 

 he lay down on the edge of the water; and, ftretching his 

 head over it, he faw thefe infe&s fpring up, as infects in ge- 

 neral do, from the bottom of the water, which was covered 

 with fea-weeds. When he attempted to catch them in his 

 handkerchief, he found on it only luminous fpots, which he 

 could fpread over it with his finger. 



Le Roi, during a voyage up the Mediterranean, obferved 

 that the head of the {hip, as it paffed through the waves, 

 threw up in the daytime a multitude of fmall particles, which 

 at night had a fiery appearance f. He is not, however, in- 

 clined to afcribe this phenomenon to infects, becaufc, having 

 collected fome of thefe luminous particles in his handker- 

 chief, he found them to he round bodies like pin-heads, 

 without any appearance of animal organs, though he exa- 

 mined them with a microfcope. But he does not deny that. 

 there are i • - in the fea, though he is of opinion 



that its luminous appearance ai a fume other caufe, 



which he does not further explain. 



Fougeroox de BondarOy X and father Torrubia § afcribe 

 the caufe of the luminous appearance of the fea to a multi- 

 tude of fmall nereids, the hinder parts of which the former 

 found to be endowed with the property of emitting light. 

 This is the cafe in particular with the nereis n r jclUucalAvm.\\ 



' Some of the fcolopendrs, as the rica and the feel, phof- 



pborea L. really fliine in the night-thmfc. According to Hablitzl (fee 

 Gab. Mag. Vol. II. Pirt 4. No 159), a cable drawn up from the fea 

 emitted a very lively light, which arofe from its being covered with the 

 fea flea {car.cer pidrx); a proof that thofe animals fhine in the dark. 



f Obfervat. fur une Lumiere produite dans la Mtr, in the Memoires 

 prefenu'es, Vol. Ill', p. 144. 



X Sue la Lumiere que donnc l'Enu de 1 1 Mer ^rincipalement dans lesLa- 

 gunes de Vcnife, in the Mem", de I'Acad.des Sciences. Paris 1767, p. 120. 



§ Vorbereitung zur NaturgefchichM von Spanien. Hulk 1773. 410. 



|l Sec Linn. Syit. Nat. Vol. I. edition 13. p. 1085; alfo his Aaioc- 

 icad. Vol. ill, p. 103. tab. 3. 



The 



