NOV. 1768 MARINE ANIMALS 



21 



flashes of light coming from it, perfectly resembling small 

 flashes of lightning, and these so frequent that sometimes 

 eight or ten were visible at the same moment ; the seamen 

 were divided in their accounts, some assuring us that it pro- 

 ceeded from fish, who made the light by agitating the salt 

 water, as they called it, in their darting at their prey ; while 

 others said that they had often seen them to be nothing 

 more than blubbers (Medusae). This made us very eager to 

 procure some of them, which at last we did by the help of the 

 landing-net ; they proved to be a species of Medusa, which 

 when brought on board appeared like metal violently heated, 

 emitting a white light. On the surface of this animal was 

 fixed a small Lepas of exactly the same colour and almost 

 transparent, not unlike thin starch in which a small quantity 

 of blue is dissolved. In taking these animals three or four 

 species of crabs were also obtained, of which one very small 

 kind gave fully as much light as a glow-worm in England, 

 though the creature was not so large by nine-tenths. Indeed, 

 the sea this night seemed to abound with light in an unusual 

 manner, as if every inhabitant of it furnished its share ; as 

 might have been the case, although none retained that pro- 

 perty after being brought out of the water except the two 

 above mentioned. 



30th. Employed in examining the things caught last 

 night, which being taken by the light of our lamps (for the 

 wind which blows in at the windows always open will not 

 suffer us to burn candles) we could hardly then distinguish 

 into genera, much less into species. We had the good 

 fortune to find that they were all quite new, and named 

 them Medusa pellucens, Lepas pellueens, Clio, Cancer fulgens, 

 and Cancer amplectens, but we had the misfortune to lose 

 two more species of crabs through the glass in which they 

 were contained falling overboard. Two other species of 

 crabs were taken, one of which was very singular. 



3 1 st. Find that the crabs taken yesterday were both 

 new ; called them vitreus and crassicornis. 



5th November. That the trade blows toward the northward 

 upon the coast of Brazil has been observed long ago, although 



