14 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



was at one time admitted by naturalists. They not only have 

 the faculty of flight for some distance in a direct line, but 

 also are capable of turning while in the air at nearly a right 

 angle, so as entirely to change the direction of their course. 

 We passed into the tropics on the evening of the same day, 

 when there was a magnificent display of phosphorescence on 

 the sea, globes of fire of various* sizes passing by close to the 

 vessel. This striking phenomenon, on which so much has 

 been written, though to be witnessed more or less in all seas, 

 is certainly most distinctly manifested in the tropics, where it 

 has attracted the attention of voyagers for centuries. Thus, 

 in "The Second Voyage of John Davis with Sir Edward 

 Michelborne Knight into the East Indies,"* it is recorded 

 that on the 12th of February 1605, when a little to the north 

 of Ascension, " wee found ourselues to bee in seuen degrees 

 fine minutes to the south-ward ; in which place at night I 

 think I saw the strangest sea, that euer was scene ; which 

 was. That the burning or glittering Light of the Sea did show 

 to us, as though all the sea ouer had been burning flames of 

 fire, and all the night long, the moone being downe, you might 

 see to reade in any book by the light thereof." 



ISText day I had an opportunity of examining a flying-fish 

 {Exoccetus oUusirostris) for the first time, and was much 

 struck by the approximation of the eye to the termination of 

 the snout. I was also interested to observe a large dragon-fly 

 skimming about the ship ; and the following morning, when 

 we were still nearly 200 miles from the nearest land, a small 

 brown butterfly was noticed. 



We reached St. Vincent, in the Cape de Verdes, on the 

 9th, a few hours later than we had calculated upon, in conse- 

 quence of the neighbouring island of Santa Lucia being mis- 



* Furchas his Pilgrimes^ vol. i. book ii. p. 132. 



