WATER AND THE 



OCEAN 



The third kind of phofphoreal light is no doubt caufed by mol- 

 liifca^, whofe whole figure may be diflinguifhed in the water by 

 their own luminous appearance. I have obferved, though rarely, the ~ 

 fame efFea to be occafioned by filli and ihell-iifh f 5 and there may • 

 be likewife fome fhrimps and other inCchs J, that are phofphorefcent, , 



H 



F 



though I liave never feen them. But the moft iingular and furprizing 



I— 



appearance of this nature, I, obferved in the night preceding 061. 30, 

 1,772, when we were off the Cape of Good Hope, at the diftance . 



r 



of a few miles from the ihore, and had a freih gale. . Scarcely had 

 night fpread its veil over the furface of the ocean, when it had the 



- 



appearance of being all over on fire. . Every wave that broke had n 

 luminous margin or top;,, wherever the fides of the fiiip came in 

 contacft with the fea, there appeared, a line of phofphoreal light. , 

 The eye difcovered this luminous appearance every where on tha 

 ocean j nay, the very bofom of this immenfe element feemed to be 

 pregnant with this fiiining appearance. . We faw great bodies illu- 

 minated ' 



OCEAN 



■?/ 



th 





pilation of Voyag-es, vol. ii. p. 15 



^yfi 



nfc 



hn- J, 



f Daftyli (Pholadcs.) His natura in tenebrls rcmoto lum'me, alio fuloere claro. Plln. 



m 



(61.) 



X Some of the genus of Scolopendra or Centipes, {hine during the darknefs of the night. 



mi%. 



d phofph 



r\ 



nd perhaps fome other fpccies, or even,genus. 



The laft-namcd.fpecies fell on board of a {hip fevcral hundred miles from any land, and has, 



perhaps, wings like' the water-beetle Y-^y/^C/^;, which, at certain times leaves the water, 



takes a flight through the air, which may account for the above faftv See Limis. S^, 

 Jiut, ed^ xii, /. 1064. » 



