190 FUNCTIONS AND INSTINCTS. 



the sea-shore, I have occasionally remarked an 

 animal of this tribe left by the waves, not much 

 larger than a nutmeg, of a spherical form, with 

 several longitudinal ridges, and nearly as trans- 

 parent as the purest crystal. If at all injured by 

 the touch, it immediately dissolved. Such deli- 

 cate creatures has the Creator exposed to the 

 action of the oceanic waves, and they sail gaily 

 on, by means of their ciliated tails, receiving 

 no injury, frail as they are, except in being some- 

 times cast upon the shore. These lucid gems of 

 the waters, 1 which abound equally within the 

 polar circle and near the equator, are eminently 

 phosphoric. Bosc says, he has seen millions, 

 which he could scarcely distinguish during the 

 day from the water in which they lived, but 

 which in warm and calm nights afforded the 

 most brilliant spectacle. From their rotatory 

 motion, they seemed then globes of fire which 

 rolled upon the surface of the water. The more 

 rapid their motion, the more intense the light, 

 and their tails always emitted more than their 

 body. They doubtless absorb animalcules with 

 the water that they inspire, and they swim by a 

 motion combining rotation with contraction and 

 dilatation. They are found from a line to six 

 inches in diameter. Providence has destined 

 them to be the food of a vast number of fishes, 

 even the whale does not disdain them ; and we 

 may conjecture the havoc that one of these giants 



1 Eeroe, 



