ORDER CRUSTACEA. HOMOBRANCHI.E. 133 



phenomenon are the phosphorescent properties which 

 are possessed by many of the smaller inhabitants of the 

 deep. Among these, the little animal, figured above, is 

 very frequently met with. 



The light of this creature, which is very brilliant, ap- 

 pears to issue from every part of the body ; but in another 

 crustaceous animal, found by Captain Tuckey, in the 

 Gulf of Guinea, the luminous property resided in the 

 brain, which, when the animal was at rest, resembled a 

 most brilliant amethyst, about the size of a large pin- 

 head ; from this there started, when it| moved, Hashes 

 of a brilliant silvery light. 



The author we have lately quoted, says, — 

 " Meditating upon this subject, I think it not impro- 

 bable, that the Deity, who has done nothing in vain, and 

 whose omniscience extends to every epoch, foreseeing 

 that man would invent the means of tempting the track- 

 less ocean, and explore the most distant regions of our 

 planet, has given it as one means of rendering his nights 

 less gloomy, and of diminishing the number of his dan- 

 gers ; especially, if we consider that this luminosity is 

 seen only in the night-season, — is vivid in proportion to 

 the darkness, disappearing even before the feeble light 

 of the moon,— and also that it increases with the agita- 

 tion of the sea, so that, during the prevalence of storms, 

 it greatly diminishes the dense gloom which at such 

 times is often impenetrable to the moon, and the stars, 

 throws such a light upon the ship and rigging as to 

 enable sailors to execute their allotted tasks with cer- 

 tainty, and at all times points out to the cautious 

 mariner the lurking danger of sunken rocks, shoals, 

 and unknown coasts, by the phosphorescent, or snowy 



