52 HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



this pencil, and having felt for the glass, disturb 

 the water with it. Ha ! what a circle of tiny lamps 

 flash out ! You struck the body of Thaumantias 

 with the pencil, and instantly, under the stimulus 

 of alarm, every purple eye became a phosphoric 

 flame.' 



Any one who has sufficient courage to walk on 

 the seaweed along the sea-shore at night will 

 frequently see the rays of light shooting out in 

 all directions like so many displays of fireworks, 

 and not unfrequently will there appear the passing 

 medusae, gracefully moving like so many illuminated 

 tiny umbrellas. As the water is disturbed by the 

 passing boat it becomes illuminated by the micro- 

 scopic forms of life. Miss Pratt vividly pictures 

 the displays of Nature's fireworks : ' Down below 

 the surface these jellies seem like balls of gold 

 or silver, sometimes, as in the girdle of Venus of 

 the Mediterranean, appearing like a riband of 

 flame several feet long ; or, as in the yet more 

 luminous pyrosoma, enabling the voyager to read 

 by their light as he stands by the cabin window 

 of the ship. Some of the larger species are de- 

 scribed as having the resemblance to white-hot 

 shot, visible at some depth beneath the surface.' 



