430 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



cause of this phenomenon lies then most likely in the putrefying 

 fibres of dead mollusks, which are mixed with the waters in 

 countless numbers." 



Summing up the foregoing in a few words, it is thus an indis- 

 putable fact, that the phosphorescence of the sea is by no mean3 

 an electrical or magnetic property of the water, but exclusively 

 bound to organic matter, living or dead. But although thus 

 much has been ascertained, we have as yet only advanced one 

 6tep towards the unravelling of the mystery, and its proximate 

 cause remains an open question. Unfortunately, science is still 

 unable to give a positive answer, and we are obliged to be 

 contented with a more or less plausible hypothesis. When we 

 consider that the phosphorescence most commonly resides only 

 in the outward mucous covering of the body, in which a number 

 of particles cast off by the skin are continually undergoing de- 

 composition, the phenomenon seems to be a simple chemical 

 process, during which more or less phosphorus may be dis- 

 engaged, which by agitation or friction gives rise to the emission 

 of light. It is more difficult to explain those cases in which 

 the entire mass of the body is luminous (as in Pholas), or the 

 muscular substance (as in some Annelides), or the vibratory 

 cilia (as in the Beroes); and here we do better to confess our 

 entire ignorance, than to resort to the hypothesis of electrical 

 discharges, extremely improbable in an element which is so ex- 

 cellent an electrical conductor, and particularly when we. consider 

 that no emission of light takes place in the few and powerful 

 electrical fishes we are acquainted with. 



"We know as little of what utility marine phosphorescence may 

 be. Why do the countless myriads of Mammarise gleam and 

 sparkle along our coasts ? Is it to signify their presence to other 

 animals, and direct them to the spot where they may find 

 abundance of food ? So much is certain, that so grand and wide- 

 spread a phenomenon must necessarily serve some end equally 

 grand and important. 



As the phosphorescence of the sea is owing to living creatures, 

 it must naturally show itself in its greatest brilliancy when the 

 ocean is at rest ; for during the daytime we find the surface of 

 the waters most peopled with various animals when only a slight 

 zephyr glides over the sea. In stormy weather, the fragile or 

 gelatinous world of the lower marine creatures generally seeks a 



