LUMINOSITY OF THE SEA. 39 



dazzling green sparks and globes of fire were flashing, 

 quivering, and dying amidst the undulations of the waves, 

 and these sparks and globes of fire were so many living 

 beings. At certain times of the year these microscopical 

 beings acquire the property of emitting light at each mus- 

 cular contraction ; and hence every movement in these ani- 

 malculse is made apparent by a luminous flash." 



Mr. Edmonds alludes to the luminous waters frequently 

 witnessed in Mount's Bay : 



'* On these occasions, particularly when the night is dark, 

 if a fish rise from the calm water, a most brilliant and beau- 

 tiful effect is produced. Were you, from a boat, to look 

 down into the sea while fishes were darting to and fro, their 

 paths would be luminous, and the deep would be traversed 

 by streams of light as bright and beautiful as those of stars 

 shooting through the sky. If you draw in your fishing-line, 

 it will appear as a line of fire, and the fish at the end of it 

 like a ball of fire coming near you. A net suspended in 

 the sea appears * like a brilliant lacework of fire,' and the 

 fishes may be seen carefully avoiding it. When fishermen 

 by night wish to know whether any fish are near, they stamp 

 on the bottom of the boat, and instantly, if there are any 

 beneath, they will be seen darting away in all directions." 



To these observations may be added the interesting de- 

 scription of this phenomenon, as witnessed in the vicinity of 

 the Plata by the distinguished Darwin : 



'' One very dark night the sea presented a very beautiful 

 and singular appearance. There was a fresh breeze, and 

 every part of the surface which, during the day, is seen as 

 foam, now glowed with a pale light. The vessel drove be- 

 fore her bows two billows of liquid phosphorus, and in her 

 wake she was followed by a milky train. As far as the eye 

 reached, the crest of every wave was bright, and the sky 

 above the horizon, from the reflected glare of these livid 

 flames, was not so utterly obscure as over the vault of the 



