CHAP. XI. LUMINOSITY OF FISHES. 365 



gelatinous substance, attested by Cuvier * as found 



beneath their skin, 

 is, no doubt, the 

 instrument of their 

 luminosity ; and 

 Dr. Neil appears to 

 speak from personal 

 observation,, when 

 he says that the 

 haddock and her- 

 ring are likewise 

 phosphorescent. If 

 this property can be ascertained after fishes have been 

 drawn from their natural element, and are either dead or 

 dying how infinite^ stronger must they possess it when 

 in the full enjoyment of health and freedom. Could the 

 eye of the philosopher explore the dark unfathomed caves 

 of ocean, and contemplate the wonders that they would 

 unfold, one of these, we firmly believe, would be the 

 enchanting sight produced by the phosphorescence of 

 their inhabitants. In sober truth, we conjecture that 

 the vast expanse of the " mighty deep " is but a coun- 

 terpart or type of the starry vault of heaven ; in this 

 way, that it is thickly studded with innumerable 

 phosphorescent fishes, and other animals, of different 

 magnitudes and varied brightness, that these are the 

 moving and living stars which give light to the watery 

 element, at depths beyond the influence of the solar 

 rays ; or, it may be, only during the night. All we 

 know of facts, few as they yet are, and all the con- 

 clusions to be drawn from them, render a theory like 

 this anything but improbable. 



(67.) The learned Viviani, in a most valuable 

 pamphlet, devoted to this subject f, has further ascer- 

 tained that there exists, even in the Gulf of Genoa, 

 numerous other phosphorescent animals, not mentioned 

 by other writers : of sixteen species which he describes 



Grift, Cuv. p. 569. 



f Phosphorescent!* Maria. Genus, 1805, thin 4to, with five plates. 



