356 THE OCEAN. 



of these points, of greater size and brilliancy than 

 the rest, would suddenly burst into a small cloud of 

 superior whiteness to the mass, and be then lost 

 in it. The curdling of the milky appearance into 

 clouds and masses, and its quick subsidence, were 

 what I had never observed elsewhere. 



Many very interesting observations have been made 

 on these luminous appearances, and there seems no 

 doubt that to a very large extent they are produced 

 by living animals ; but as many species, varying 

 greatly from each other, and belonging even to differ- 

 ent classes of the animal kingdom, have been recog- 

 nised as contributing to the luminousness, we need 

 the less wonder that there should be variations in its 

 aspects. Dr. Baird, in some quotations from a jour- 

 nal kept during a voyage to India, furnishes some 

 interesting notes of the origin of the light. The 

 writer speaks of " the broad bright flash, vivid enough 

 to illuminate the sea for some distance round, while 

 the most splendid globes of fire were seen wheeling 

 und careering in the midst of it, and by their bril- 

 liancy outshining the general light." On drawing a 

 bucket-full of water the narrator " allowed it to re- 

 main quiet for some time, when, upon looking into it 

 in a dark place, the animals could be distinctly seen 

 emitting a bright speck of light. Sometimes this 

 was like a sudden flash, at others appearing like an 

 oblong or round luminous point, which continued 

 bright for a short time, like a lamp lit beneath the 

 water, and moving through it, still possessing its defi- 

 nite shape, and then suddenly disappearing. When 

 the bucket was sharply struck on the outside, there 



