391 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



liant white. The cause in this instance has been 

 supposed to be vast numbers of small crustaceous 

 animals, which have the singular property of 

 emitting a white light. 



Sometimes it is of a ghastly blue, and the 

 appearance then presented is more than ordi- 

 narily terrifying to the superstitious. Again, 

 sometimes it is of a fiery red, or even scarlet, 

 as though some marine monster's blood did 



" The multitudinous sea incarnadine, 

 Making the green ono red." 



Sometimes also the tint is green, and sometimes 

 yellow. 



In many cases this power of emitting light 

 appears to be a vital property connected with 

 the existence of marine beings. Dr. Macculloch, 

 who laboriously investigated this curious and 

 interesting subject, writes : " I believe the 

 power of producing light to be an universal 

 property in the marine tribes. I have never 

 found a species in which it did not exist." 

 The luminosity of some fishes depends upon 

 the minute phosphorescent creatures, Nereis 

 noctiluca, attaching themselves to the scales 

 of fish, and? thus illuminating the surface of 

 the creature -on which they rest. Many of 

 these phosphorescent creatures are of extreme 

 minuteness. The little being represented in 

 the cut, Noctiluca miliaris, does not exceed 



