100 LIVING LIGHTS. 



dark when I first saw it shining in the net, it resembled a 

 Pyrosoma, emitting, as it did, a bright phosphorescent light. 

 This was in latitude 2 15' south, longitude 163 west. The 

 length of my specimen was five inches and a half. It is not 

 a little singular that my brother, the late D. F. Bennett, 

 obtained a specimen of this fish in the same latitude, and 

 another in latitude 55 north, longitude 110 west. The 

 first was taken in the daytime, and was ten inches in length, 

 much larger in size than my specimen. The second was 

 taken at night, and its entire length was a foot and a half : 

 both were alive when captured,- and fought fiercely with 

 their jaws, tearing the net in several places. On placing my 

 fish in sea-water, arid observing , it in the dark cabin, it 

 swam about for some time, emitting a bright phosphoric 

 light ; and when this had become so faint as to be almost 

 imperceptible, it was readily rekindled on the animal being 

 disturbed or excited. My specimen was of a perfectly black 

 color, and died about four hours after it had been taken. 

 The luminosity was retained for some hours after life was 

 extinct. 



" The form of the shark, as indeed its whole structure, is 

 peculiar. It no doubt belongs to the subgenus Scymnus. My 

 specimen having been accidentally lost, I am unable to give a 

 minute description of it. My brother was more fortunate. 

 I will, therefore, give his account of so novel and interesting 

 a fish. The body is cylindrical, rather slender, and tapers 

 finely towards the tail. Its prevailing color is dusky brown ; 

 a broad black band, or collar, passes around the throat ; and 

 the fins are partially margined with white (my specimen, 

 being small and young, varied in this respect, being black, 

 with the fins of a less intensity of color) ; the skin rough, 



