258 The Rev. D. Landsborough on 



rainated, every denticle seeming to be on fire." I have lately 

 discovered that it is not only probable that many others ex- 

 hibit the same phaenomenon^ but that it is absolutely certain 

 that they do so. I had thought that in making the experi- 

 ment it would be necessary to put the sea-weed to which the 

 Sertidaria was attached into a vessel of sea-water, but I find 

 that it can be made with less trouble. 



About two months ago I brought from the shore in a 

 pocket vascidum or tin box, some Zoophytes attached to sea- 

 weeds, and laid the vasculum on the lobby table till I should 

 have leisure to examine them. When night came I put my 

 hand into the vasculum to remove some of the Zoophytes for 

 inspection, and on moving them I found to my surprise and 

 delight that they began to sparkle. Remembering what I had 

 read in the extract given above, as I took them up, I gave 

 them a hearty shake, and they instantly became quite bril- 

 liant, like handfuls of little stars or sparkling diamonds. To 

 ascertain what were the Zoophytes that emitted this phos- 

 phorescent light, it was necessary to take them up singly by 

 candle-light, and afterwards to make the experiment in the 

 dark. The first I tried was Valckeria cuscuta, with which I 

 was successful. From Sertularia poJyzonias and Cellularia 

 reptans little light arose ; Laomedea geniculata was very lumi- 

 nous, every cell for a few moments becoming a star ; and as 

 each polype had a will of its own, they lighted and extin- 

 guished their little lamps, not simultaneously, but with rapid 

 irregularity, so that this running fire had a very lively ap- 

 pearance. Flustra memhranacea also was very beautiful, 

 though very different from the former ; for as the cells are so 

 closely and regularly arranged, it exhibited, when shaken, a 

 simultaneous blaze, and became for a little like a sheet of fire. 

 With Flustra pilosa I was very successful. That variety of 

 it which is spread on a flat surface, and which, from the form 

 that the polypidom assumes, is the Membranipora stellata 

 of Thompson, on being bent or shaken, became doubly enti- 

 tled to the name of stellated, for every polype in its cell 

 lighted up a very brilliant little star, and for a short time the 

 polypidom became like an illuminated city. 



After some days, I repeated the experiment with other 

 Zoophytes, and with similar success. A third time I brought 

 home a well- filled vasculum ; but as I happened to be other- 

 wise occupied, it was allowed to lie unopened for five or six 

 days, when, thinking that the Zoophytes would be dead, I cast 

 them out along with the sea-weeds to which they were ad- 

 hering. They lay in the open air for a night and a day, and 

 as it rained heavily during the whole time, weeds and Zo- 



