392 EAMBLES OP A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XXIH. 



teems, like motes in a sun-beam, each contributes its tinyscin- , 

 tOlation, the aggregate forming a soft and lovely radiance. 



The luminosity of the sea, its appearance, and its nu- 

 merous forms — ^the various conditions under which it became 

 manifest— and, as far as practicable, the causes which pro- 

 duced it, were subjects to which I was anxious to pay espe- 

 cial attention. For, although some of these points had 

 already engaged the attention of competent observers, who 

 have elicited much curious and valuable information, few of 

 them have had the opportunity of watching the phenomena 

 for a long-continued period, or over a wide extent of ocean. 

 Much therefore undoubtedly yet remains to be learned 

 regarding them ; and I shall m this chapter collect together 

 the various scattered observations which I carried on at 

 every available opportunity during the space of a year and a 

 half. Not a night passed while I was at sea without my 

 looking out for luminous appearances, jotting down any- 

 thing novel or unusual, and, whenever practicable, making 

 an examination for the determination of the cause and modus 

 operandi of the luminous manifestation. And although the 

 bright moonlight nights were often very beautiful, I not 

 unfrequently bewailed the invisibility of the luminous ani- 

 mals whose light was temporarily extinguished by the 

 superior effulgence of the lunar rays ; and I longed for a 

 return of the dark, but no less beautiful star-light nights, 

 the brilliancy of which compensated for the absence of the 

 moon, without putting a stop to my observations upon the 

 luminosity of the sea. 



Before detailing the remarkable phenomena which pre- 

 sented themselves to my notice from time to time, let me 

 say that I purposely avoid using the word phosphorescence 

 when speaking of these appearances — a term very gene- 



