312 THE OCEAN WOULD. 



The name Pyrosoma lias been given to these animals in consequence 

 of their brilliant phosphorescent properties. According to the observa- 

 tions of Peron and Lesueur, nothing can exceed the brilliant and 

 dazzling light emitted in the bosom of the ocean by these animals. 

 From the manner in which the colonists dispose themselves, they 

 form occasionally long trains of fire ; but it is a singular fact that 

 this phosphorescence presents the same curious characteristics that 

 distinguish the cilia of the Beroe; namely, that the colours vary 

 instantaneously, passing with wonderful rapidity from the most in- 

 tense red to yellow, from golden colour to orange, to green, or to 

 azure blue. Yon Humboldt saw a flock of these brilliant living 

 colonies floating by the side of his ship, and projecting circles of light 

 having a radius of not less than twenty inches in diameter. He 

 could see by this light the fishes which followed the ship's track, 

 during many days, at the depth of from two to three fathoms. 



Bibra, a Brazilian navigator, having caught six Pyrosoma, em- 

 ployed them to light up his cabin. The light produced by these 

 little creatures was so bright, that he could read to one of his friends 

 the description he had written of these his living torches. 



Three species of Pyrosoma are known; namely, P. elegans, 

 two or three inches in length, which inhabits the Mediterranean; 

 P. giganteum, which is found in the same sea. It is a long bluish 

 cylinder, bristling with tubercles, each of which is the abode of an 

 animal, a citizen of this moving republic, and is attached to its 

 colleagues by means of its gelatinous envelope : an alliance imposed 

 by inexorable Nature a forced species of socialism. 



The third species, P. atlanticum, was discovered by Peron and 

 Lesueur in the Equatorial seas. 



These curious Ascidians are so created in rings as to constitute a 

 long fine cylindrical tube, closed at one end and open at the other. 

 By the contraction and dilatation of the mass of beings, this great 

 cylinder swims slowly through the open sea, lighting up the ocean 

 with its phosphorescent light, shining through the water like a glowing- 

 fire. Mr. Bennet thus describes one of these pelagic appearances : 

 " On the 8th of June, being then in lat. 30 S. and 27 5' W. long., 

 having fine weather and a fresh south-easterly trade-wind, and the 

 thermometer ranging from 78 to 84, late at night the mate of the 

 watch called me to witness a very unusual appearance in the water. 



