THE. PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEA. 317 
travellers. Place your vase in a darkened room, and 
strike the glass, or agitate the water, and you will be 
delighted with the spectacle presented. From every part 
brilliant sparks appear and disappear, until at length no 
agitation of the water will produce more; their power is 
exhausted, as that of the electric eel is exhausted, after a 
few shocks. You want to know the cause of this phos- 
phorescence? Unhappily the point is still sub judice. It 
is only since the beginning of this century that the atten- 
tion of naturalists has been fixed upon the Voctiluce as 
sources of the phosphorescence, in all times observed, and 
in former times attributed to the presence of decaying 
organic substance, to electricity, to “an absorption of 
Solar light disengaged in the dark.” The investigations 
of M. Quatrefages led him to the following conclusions : 
There are two different kinds of phosphorescence 
observed in the sea. The first is of very brilliant but 
isolated sparks, and is due principally to Starfishes, 
Crustaceans, and Annelids. The second is of a general 
luminous tint, over which are strewed isolated sparks, 
and is due to the Noctiluce. These Noctiluce have no 
special organ which produces the phosphorescence, as the 
other animals have; but the light emanates from the 
whole substance of their bodies. Every irritant, no mat- 
ter of what nature, produces this phosphorescence in them. 
The phenomenon is not, as in insects, one of combustion ; 
but is intimately connected with the contraction, spon- 
taneous or provoked, of their substance. It is indepen- - 
dent of all secretion, and it is probable that the sparks 
are due to the rupture and sudden contraction of their 
Sarcodic filaments; while the steady light they emit in 
dying, results from the permanent contraction of this 
Sarcodic substance. — From Lewes’ Sea-side Studies. 
