BY CRAB-LIGHT. 79 



tated. The most brilliant flashes occur when freshly taken 

 from the sea. Under the microscope these phosphorescent 

 organs appear as pale-red spots, with a central, clear, lenticu- 

 lar body. The light comes from the red pigment surround- 

 ing the lenticular space. Mr. Murray observed at night, on 

 the surface of the sea in the Faeroe Channel, large patches 

 and long streaks of apparently milky-white water. The tow- 

 nets caught in these immense numbers of NyctipJianes nove- 

 jica, and the peculiar appearance of the water seemed to be 

 due to the diffused light emitted from the phosphorescent 

 organs of this species. 



Many of the deep-sea shrimps are remarkable for their 

 brilliant coloring. Aristes is a bright red, with antenncB five 

 or six times as long as its body. Equally strange is the 

 long-legged Nematocarcinus (Plate XV., Fig. 1), and the Oplo- 

 phori and Notostomi, curious little creatures, that have no 

 common names, are of an intense red hue, while others are 

 brown, rose, or spotted with red; showing that Nature 

 decorates her own even in the uttermost depths of the sea. 



