428 



CHAP. XXI. 



THE PHOSPHOEESCENCE OF THE SEA. 



Its Causes. — Noctiluoa miliaria. — Phosphorescent Annelides ana Heroes. — 

 Intense Phosphorescence of the Pyrosoma atlantica. — Luminous Pholades. — 

 The luminous Shark.— Phosphorescent Algae.— Citations from Byron, Coleridge, 

 and Crabbe. 



He who still lingers on the shore after the shades of evening 

 have descended, not seldom enjoys a most magnificent spectacle ; 

 for lucid flashes burst from the bosom of the waters, as if the 

 nea were anxious to restore to the darkened heavens the light it 

 had received from them during the day. On approaching the 

 margin of the rising flood to examine more closely the sparkling 

 of the breaking wave, the spreading waters seem to cover the 

 beach with a sheet of fire. Each footstep over the moist sands 

 elicits luminous star-like points, and a splash in the water re- 

 sembles the awakening of slumbering flames. 



The same wonderful and beauteous aspect frequently gladdens 

 the eye of the navigator who ploughs his way through the wide 

 deserts of ocean, particularly if his course leads him through the 

 tropical seas. 



" When a vessel," says Humboldt, " driven along by a fresh 

 wind, divides the foaming waters, one never wearies of the lovely 

 spectacle their agitation affords; for, whenever a wave makes 

 the ship incline sideways, bluish or reddish flames seem to shoot 

 upwards from the keel. Beautiful beyond description is the 

 sight of a troop of dolphins gambolling in the phosphorescent sea. 

 Every furrow they draw through the waters is marked by streaks 

 of intense light. In the Gulf of Cariaco, between Cumana 

 and the peninsula of Maniquarez, this scene has often delighted 

 me for hours." 



But even in the colder oceanic regions the brilliant pheno- 

 menon appears from time to time in its full glory. During a 

 dark and stormy September night, on the way from the Sea- 



