PHOSPHORESCENCE OF THE SEAS. 
15 
snow. “ There was scarcely a cloud in the heavens,” he continues, 
“ yet the sky, for about ton degrees above the horizon, appeared as 
black as if a storm were raging ; stars of the first magnitude shone 
with a feeble light, and the ‘ Milky Way ’ of the heavens was almost 
entirely eclipsed by that through which we were sailing.” The 
a nimals which produced this appearance were about six inches long, 
a nd formed of a gelatinous and translucent matter. At times, the 
Sea was one blaze of light, produced by countless millions of minute 
globular creatures, called Nodilucie. The motion of a vessel or the 
plash of an oar will often excite their lucidity, and sometimes, 'after 
the ebb of tide, the rocks and seaweed of the coast are glowing with 
them. Various other tribes of animals there are which contribute to 
this luminous appearance of the sea. M. Peron thus describes the 
6 flect produced by Pyrosoma Atlanticum, on his voyage to the Isle of 
France : “ The wind was blowing with great violence, the night was 
hark, and the vessel was making rapid way, when what appeared to 
he a vast sheet of phosphorus presented itself floating on the waves, 
and occupying a great space ahead of the ship. The vessel having 
Passed through this fiery mass, it was discovered that the light was 
Oc casioned by animalcules swimming about in the sea at various depths 
r °nnd the ship. Those which were deepest in the water looked like 
red-hot balls, while those on the surface resembled cylinders of red-hot 
u '°n. Some of the latter were caught : they were found to vary in size 
from three to seven inches. All the exterior of the creatures bristled 
^th long thick tubercles, shining like so many diamonds, and these 
Se enied to be the principal seat of its luminosity. Inside also there 
a Ppeared to be a multitude of oblong narrow glands, exhibiting a high 
degree of phosphoric power. The colour of these animals when in 
repose is an opal yellow, mixed with green ; but, on the slightest 
ru °vement, the animal exhibits a spontaneous contractile power, and 
assumes a luminous brilliancy, passing through various shades of deep 
red, orange green, and azure blue.” 
The phosphorescence of the sea is a spectacle at once imposing and 
Magnificent. The ship, in plunging through the waves, seems to 
advance through a sea of red and blue flame, which is tin-own off 
% the keel like so much lightning. Myriads of creatures float and 
P% on the surface of the waves, dividing, multiplying, and reuniting, 
80 as to form one vast field of fire. In stormy weather the luminous 
