122 THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



silence and the darkness are not more than momen- 

 tarily troubled by the sinking of a cable, or the 

 1 roken remains of a wrecked vessel. Before arriving 

 at these profound depths there are regions to which 

 the light of day but rarely and with diiBficulty pene- 

 trates, and which yet are inhabited by legions of 

 living beings. From what star unknown to us do 

 they borrow their light? Or does their special 

 nature permit them to substitute for sight a sense 

 more delicate still ? No ! these animals see clearly, 

 and one of their functions is to find light for them- 

 selves — they are phosphorescent. 



Frddol observes : " We are now aware that the 

 infusorise are not the only animals which cause the 

 phosphorescence of the sea. This beautiful pheno- 

 menon is determined also by the medusae, the 

 asterias, the molluscs, the nereids, and by some 

 crustaceans and fishes. These animals engender light 

 as the gymnotns engenders electricity. They even 

 multiply and develope the effects of the pheno- 

 menon. The light which they produce rapidly 

 changes from a greenish to a reddish tinge. At 

 certain moments, the darkness is lighted as by 

 radiant points running into starry feathers or fringes 

 of light. So vast is the number of these phos- 

 phorescent animals, that they appear at a distance 

 like metallic masses heated to whiteness, or like 



