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CURSORY REMARKS ON TROPICAL SEAS. 
(Communicated by Mr. Edwin Lankester, M.R.C.S.) 
The want of animation in the Northern seas, which is very striking on dull 
days, when their scanty inhabitants, from the want of cheerful light, retire to 
great depths, is changed under the Equator for the bustle of a most varied creation. 
Whilst sailing in these regions all on board the vessel is still, like the peaceful 
quiet of a sabbath. The sailor, intent on his work, sits quietly at the prow of 
the vessel, for the constancy of the weather renders all noisy manoeuvring quite 
unnecessary, and all the business is carried on with the silent punctuality of 
clockwork. The day passes away in quiet uniformity, unless the sight of a 
distant sail, the appearance of fish, or a strange Jelly-fish, afford a welcome 
interruption. 
At last evening draws on, announced by a diminished force of the wind. It 
would be a vain attempt to presume to describe in words the splendid colouring 
of a sunset in these regions. This is the only time of day in which'those light, 
transparent, curiously-shaped clouds are formed on the horizon called dew- 
clouds. Their transitory existence favours the development of that extraordinary 
play of colours which is produced by the dispersion of the more oblique rays 
of the sun. 
Even after having often seen the rising and setting of the sun from the summit 
of the European Alps, and the extreme ridges of the Andes, I unhesitatingly 
give the preference to the same scene in the Equatorial seas. Whilst one side 
of the vessel is still illuminated by the last fading rays of the evening sun, and the 
opposite side darkened by the shade of the sails, the sea in this direction already 
becomes brilliant. One spot after another begins to be illuminated; indistinct 
stripes of light commence glimmering from greater depths, till at last with the 
approach of night a new creation seems to be called into existence. These 
illuminated beings move in various directions, sometimes appearing like sparks, 
sometimes like a radiating ball of fire, at others darting through the dark surface 
of the water like a rapid flash of lightning. A great number of these beings 
are undoubtedly true night-animals, which conceal themselves during the day¬ 
light in the dark depths of the ocean.— Pceppig’s JReise in Chili , Peru , and auf 
dem Amazonstrome. 
