PLANT-ANIMALS, OR ZOOPHYTES. 171 



had a will of its own, they lighted and extinguished 

 their little lamps, not simultaneously, but with rapid 

 irregularity, so that this running fire had a very 

 lively appearance." 1 



It was in reference to this phenomenon that 

 Crabbe wrote the following lines, so often quoted in 

 connexion with this subject : 



" While thus with pleasing wonder you inspect 

 Treasures the vulgar in their scorn reject, 

 See, as they float along, th' entangled weeds 

 Slowly approach, upborne on bladdery heads ; 

 Wait till they land, and you shall then behold 

 The fiery sparks those tangled fronds infold, 

 Myriads of living points ; th' unaided eye 

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



The whole subject of the phosphorescence of the 

 sea is of great interest, but hardly comes within our 

 present scope. Very little of this general phos- 

 phorescence can be ascribed to our zoophytes, 2 

 although much, perhaps, to animals equally insig- 

 nificant and humble. " I remember," writes an ob- 

 server, "the admiration, not unmixed with wonder, 

 (for then I knew not to what agencies the power by 

 which water seemed suddenly to kindle and glow, as 

 though turned to liquid fire, was to be attributed), 



1 "Annals of Natural History," December, 1841, p. 258. 



- Readers are referred to a very interesting summary by 

 M. de Quatrefages in Popular Science Review^ vol. i. p. 275 

 (1862), entitled "The Phosphorescence of the Sea." 



