82 PHOSPHORESCENT ZOOPHYTES. 



Crabbe has noticed the same effect. In describing 

 sea-side objects, he says with great truth : 



" While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect, 

 Treasures, the vulgar in their scorn reject, 

 See as they float along the entangled weeds, 

 Slowly approach upborne on bladdery weeds ; 

 Wait till they land, and you shall then behold 

 The fiery sparks, those tangled fronds infold 

 Myriads of living points ; the unaided eye 

 Can but the fire, and not the form descry." 



The naturalist appears more clearly in these 

 words than the poet, for if a leaf of the Fucus 

 seratus with the Sertularia upon it, receive a smart 

 stroke with a stick in the dark, the whole coralline 

 is most beautifully illuminated, every denticle 

 appearing to be on fire. 



