46 THE SEA-SIDE AND AQUARIUM. 



and opening of an umbrella. When again about to 

 descend, it turns gently over and sinks down, stick 

 uppermost. 



The Acalephae possess one curious property, which 

 made them alternately objects of superstition and ad- 

 miration; this is their luminosity. Many a wild 

 theory was advanced in days of yore, to explain this 

 curious oceanic phenomenon, of which the following 

 lines give no exaggerated picture : 



" The luminous life 



That makes the dark nocturnal ocean bright 

 With constellated clusters of rare things, 

 Group'd or apart ; seeming in lustrous grace 

 Fantastic wreaths of many coloured gems, 

 Instinct with living fire; or here and there, 

 Glittering in golden glory; flashing forth 

 Metallic white, or tremulous silver, cinqued 

 By ambient tints of sapphire, pink, and blue. 

 As if some opulent spirit of the sea 

 Had, from his treasury of precious stones, 

 Flung up his choicest treasures on the waves, 

 To bathe their beauties in the meek moonshine." 



The Mamaria scintillans is the species by which 

 this phosphorescent property is most remarkably ex- 

 hibited. Our readers may perhaps be obliged to us 

 for a prose description of the appearance these animals 

 present, from the pleasant pages of Miss Pratt: 



" Beautiful as are many of the creatures of the sea, 

 none are more lovely than the Acalephs. Now they 

 may be seen in the darkness of night moving with 

 most graceful ease, like so many resplendent orbs, 

 shining singly, yet gliding from place to place ; and 



