Luminousness of the Sea* 



313 



Medi^s« scintillans. I have copied both of these figures 

 {Jig, 82. a b, c d) ; and perhaps it may be found that 

 82 >*!=5^g^<? ^^^^^ ^^ these, and mine also, 



are the same animals. These 

 little bodies were generally to 

 be seen when the water was 

 luminous, and at times were 

 very abundant, especially in 

 straits and near land. Their 

 real size, I have already said, 

 was generally about that of a 

 grain of sand ; but, when seen 

 shining in the water, their ap- 

 parent size was very much 

 increased. Upon taking up a bucketful of water from along- 

 side, and pouring it upon the deck, innumerable spots might be 

 seen about the size of small peas, which, when taken up on 

 the finger and carried to a light, were scarcely discernible by 

 the naked eye. Magnified thus by the refraction of the 

 water and their own light, when the countless millions of them 

 are scattered about upon the surface of the sea, upon its being 

 agitated and set in motion by the ship's way through it, the 

 appearance then presented is beautiful in the extreme. 



Though these little animals were the most abundant per- 

 haps of any, there were several others that were also very 

 numerous; and first those represented inj'^-. 81. c deserve 

 to be mentioned. They occurred very frequently in the 

 open ocean, in straits, and near land, and were most abun- 

 dant at those times when the sea was very luminous. The 

 natural size of these bodies is about half that of a pin's head ; 

 they seem to consist almost entirely of numerous tentacula, 

 each one of which is composed of numerous joints. These 

 apparently spring from a dark spot in the centre, whkh is 

 most prolDably the body of the animal, though I could not 

 make out distinctly any particular organs belonging to it. In 

 general, when under the microscope, there were to be seen a 

 considerable number of very small round bodies (invisible to 

 the naked eye), attached to the tentacula, or swimming round 

 about them, and which I only saw in company with this ani- 

 mal. They were wheel-shaped, transparent, with a dark streak 

 running through the centre, and possessed considerable celerity 

 of moti(m, which was of two kinds, a circular motion upon their 

 bases, and a rotatory motion upon their axes like that of a wheel, 

 the latter of which was perhaps the one most commonly used. 

 Another body, which evidently belongs to the same family as 

 the last, occurred also very frequently in company with it. 

 Vol. III. — No. 14. y 



