404 RAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. XXin. 



extraordinary phenomenon of rare occurrence. It has been 

 described to me by one who has seen it, as a general lumi- 

 nous glow, not confined to the crests of ripples or to dis- 

 turbed water, but occurring in perfectly calm weather, and 

 looking as though the whole sea was composed of a whitish 

 fluid, like milk, with no conspicuous bright spots or sparks. 

 Such an appearance reflecting a faint light upwards, illumi- 

 nates the ship, rendering every part of the rigging plainly 

 visible ; and inasmuch as it can only be seen in the absence 

 of the moon, the contrast of the white glowing sea with the 

 black sky produces an effect calculated to strike the observer 

 with a kind of awe. Although I have met with persons 

 who tell me they have not mifrequently seen this pheno- 

 menon, I am disposed to believe that it is extremely rare. 

 One who has not reaUy witnessed it at all might erroneously 

 suppose that such an appearance as I have already alluded 

 to as havmg twice occurred to me on the coast of China 

 (when the ship seemed to be sailing in a luminous sheath), 

 corresponded to the description of a milky sea ; and in a 

 small way perhaps it did so ; and I considered it at the 

 time as the, nearest approach to that phenomenon I had 

 ever observed. But the milky sea must be something sui 

 generis ; and I imagine it to be owing rather to a condition 

 of the water under certain peculiar atmospheric or climatic 

 influences, than to any extraordinary number of luminous 

 animals in it. A circumstance which once occurred to me, 

 seemed to thi'ow some light upon the subject, and confirmed 

 me in this opinion. Having put down the towing-net in 

 the Formosa Channel, it collected a number of small Ento- 

 mostraca, Megalopas, minute Medusae, small Porpitse, Ptero- 

 pods, Annelids, Globigerinee, &c., which I placed in a basin 

 of sea- water ; and not having finished my examination of 



