Ocean Flowers and Lamps 



almost equalled by night when, on the slightest 

 irritation, the whole colony glows from one 

 extremity to the other with undulating waves 

 of pale green phosphoric light. A large bucket- 

 ful of these Alcyonaria was experimentally 

 stirred up one evening, and the luminosity 

 evolved produced a spectacle too brilliant for 

 words to describe. The supporting stem ap- 

 peared always to be the chief seat of these 

 phosphorescent properties, and from thence the 

 scintillations travelled onward to the bodies of 

 the polyps themselves." ^ 



Travellers in all ages have described the 

 marvellous illuminations seen at night on the 

 ocean surface ; illuminations long a mystery 

 to those who gazed with admiration. At times 

 the whole sea is one blaze of light ; and the 

 ship cleaves her way through liquid silver, or 

 crimson glory, through milky whiteness or flames 

 of blue and red. 



And the greater part, if not the whole, as 

 we now know, is due to uncountable multitudes 

 of jelly-creatures, floating close to the surface, 

 each contributing its tiny share to the radiant 

 sheen. Sometimes they are large enough to 

 be visible to the naked eye, but more generally 



* Corals and Coral Islands^ by Dana. 

 205 



