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first-named liquid luminous to sucli a degree, tliat lie was 
enabled to read by the fight emitted from a cupful of it. 
Scharr having established the existence of phosphorescence 
in certain flexible polyparies., attributed to these the phenomenon 
in general. 
Vianelli referred it to a species of Nereid;* * * § JRigaut, to an 
animalcule at present known as “ Noctiluca,” which we shall 
consider in detail hereafter; Henderson to the Scyllari and 
Salpie; that is to say, to Crustacea and Mollusca; and so on. 
In our day everything tends to prove that the sea possesses 
its phosphorescent fauna, as does the land. Catalogues of both 
have been published, and will be found at the end of this paper. 
That of the phosphorescent marine invertebrates was no doubt 
complete when it was prepared by the learned Professor (Van 
Beneden) at the University of Louvain, but this is certainly the 
case no longer. The more marine animals are studied, the 
more numerous are found to be those which possess the light- 
emitting property. I could, from my own observations, add to 
this list at least two or three species of Polynoii ; one or two 
species of Syllis,t some species of an allied genus, some Crus- 
tacea, two or three species of Ophiura, j &c. &c. 
And now, let us ask, how much of the phosphorescence of 
the ocean is due to the aggregation of all these forms ? Un- 
doubtedly the major portion — ay, perhaps it is to this alone 
that the more magnificent phases of the phenomenon must be 
attributed. 
This assertion may, perhaps, appear strange to those who 
judge of the spectacle presented at sea by what they have 
been enabled to witness on land arising from similar causes; 
for there, neither Lampyris, Fulgora, nor Elater,§ has trans- 
formed the gneensward into a flaming’ prairie, nor do these 
insects convert the bushes into blazing underwood. 
But the sea is far more prolific than earth and air together, 
and produces its thousands for one that is created and nourished 
by the latter ; as though it would justify, even in "our days, the 
old fable in which it is designated the first parent of all living 
things. 
In none of the observations that I have myself made on this 
phosphorescence, — in none of the experiments that I have tried 
for the purpose of testing the accuracy of my views, have I ever 
discovered ought but animals, and those, living animals. At 
* A swimming worn. 
t Polynoe and Syllis are also natant worms. 
X Brittle stars. 
§ Lampyris, the glow-worm ; Fulgora, the lantern-fly ; Flatcr, the fire- 
fly. These three insects are luminous ; and Elater noctilucus is said to be 
occasionally used in South America in place of a candle. 
