28 LIVING LIGHTS. 



brightly, and then dying gradually into comparative dimness, 

 but always sufficiently bright to make every portion of a 

 stem caught in the tangles or sticking to the ropes distinctly 

 visible. From the number of specimens of sea-pens brought 

 up at one haul, we had evidently passed over a forest of 

 them. The stems were a meter long (over three feet) 

 fringed with hundreds of polyps." 



When the ship " Venus " was lying off Simonstown, one 

 of their boats passed over a forest of sea-pens in shoal water, 

 which gave out a vivid light ; while, where the ship lay at 

 anchor, j)ther forms of phosphorescent animals illuminated 

 the ports so that the men lay in them and read by the 

 wondrous light on the darkest night. 



The Henilla^ is a rich purple species common on our 

 south-eastern borders. Agassiz found it at Charleston, S.C., 

 and says of its phosphorescence, that " it emitted a golden- 

 green light of wonderful softness." 



Virgularia ^ is ah attractive form ; and in certain portions 

 of the Patagonian coast they have been seen, when left by 

 the tide, emitting a light of great brilliancy. 



Vertillum is an interesting genus, resembling a quill pen 

 in which the feathers have been curled or singed. Its color 

 is a brilliant orange ; but in the darkness it develops a 

 phosphorescence of great beauty, and so penetrating that 

 a glass containing numbers of them has been used as a lamp 

 to read by, — an interesting example of one of the possible, 

 though not remarkably practical, uses of living lights to 

 mankind. 



