254 Remarks on Marine 



seems to me fully ascertained, namely, that luminous animals 

 abound in the water of the ocean even when they are least sus- 

 pected, and that the property of emitting light is probably 

 granted to every one of these neglected inhabitants of the 

 deep. 



When the numbers of these animals are considered, it will 

 appear less extraordinary that the water of the sea should be so 

 generally luminous ; and, when we attend to their minuteness, 

 it is as little cause of surprise that they should escape ordinary 

 observation. Having necessarily reserved the description and 

 names of the species for future communications, partly for the 

 reasons already stated, and partly because they could not be 

 rendered intelligible without drawings ; I shall not enter on 

 this part of the subject, but merely attempt to convey an idea of 

 the numbers of some of the most remarkable individuals which 

 were examined. 



In proceeding from the Mull of Cantyre to Shetland, with 

 beating winds nearly the whole way, it is easy to under- 

 stand that an immense tract of water must have been passed 

 over. Those whose memory can so easily refer to the map of 

 Scotland need not be told of the number of square miles which 

 a vessel must traverse in this navigation. With very little 

 exception throughout all this space, and in every one of the 

 harbours of Shetland and Orkney, the water was full of one 

 species, in particular, of an animal which I think is not yet 

 described. It scarcely ever quitted the vessel, although more 

 abundant in some seas than in others. On a very moderate 

 computation a cubic inch did not contain less than an hundred 

 individuals ; and as they were brought up from all depths to 

 which the bucket could be sent, it is useless to attempt a state- 

 ment even of those which must have been contained in a few 

 cubic feet, much less in the enormous mass of water thus ex- 

 amined. Their numbers, even in a superficial mile, supposing 

 its depth not to exceed a few inches, baffles all imagination. 

 This species was barely visible by the naked eye, when viewed 

 in a glass against the light of the candle or of a moderated 

 sunbeam. 



