]<)6 JUKA. LUMINOUS ANIMALS. 



property is possessed by the fishes, the larger and more 

 perfect ' of the marine creation. Few direct observations 

 on this part of the subject are to be found; and much 

 greater intimacy with the almost unattainable inhabitants 

 of the deep than my own, would be required to determine 

 in which and in how many species this power exists. I 

 have hitherto observed it only in the Pilchard, the Sar- 

 dine, the Whiting, the Mackarel, and the Gar : but have 

 little doubt that it is far more widely diffused. Some 

 observations recorded by navigators seem to strengthen 

 this notion of its greater extent. It has been remarked, 

 for example, by different navigators, that the genus Squa- 

 lus shines at night; and the flying fish has also been 

 observed to emit a pale light, which Captain Ross com- 

 pares to that of the moon. We are further informed by 

 Anburey, that the porpoise in the river St. Laurence is 

 luminous ; and the same has been observed respecting 

 many of the larger fishes on the shores of St. Helena, the 

 names of which I have not been able to procure. Thus 

 also, great flashes have been described as seen at a con- 

 siderable depth in the sea, a phenomenon which I have 

 often witnessed among the Western islands ; and Pere 

 Bourzes mentions luminous vortices observed by himself; 

 appearances in all probability arising from the action of 

 large fishes, although suspected by some to be produced by 

 the larger Medusae. It is true that a deception may occur 

 in these observations as to the true seat of the light ; 

 since the disturbance produced round the body of the fish 

 by its own motion, might be followed by the luminous 

 action of minute creatures, or of diffused luminous 

 matter in contact with it, instead of originating in the 

 animal itseif. The probability however that fish actually 

 possess this property, is strengthened by our knowledge of 

 the light they so readily yield after death ; a phenomenon 

 by no means connected with putrefaction, but independent 

 of that process. Whether however it be proved or not, 

 that the larger fishes are luminous, the consequences 



