. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 51 denly destroyed tlie citizens no light would shine there. At sea there are few nigtits when jihosphorescent lights do not glow and glinnner where the wave rolls back from the ship's stem, and in the city of the sea each light al- so counts for a life. Sometimes, though rarely, the whole sea may be seen ablaze with phospliorescenee, and the waves rolling in a l)road sheet of golden light. Most of the animals that shine thus by night are transparent creatures look- ing like little lumps of jelly. How and why th
. The Australian Museum magazine. Natural history. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 51 denly destroyed tlie citizens no light would shine there. At sea there are few nigtits when jihosphorescent lights do not glow and glinnner where the wave rolls back from the ship's stem, and in the city of the sea each light al- so counts for a life. Sometimes, though rarely, the whole sea may be seen ablaze with phospliorescenee, and the waves rolling in a l)road sheet of golden light. Most of the animals that shine thus by night are transparent creatures look- ing like little lumps of jelly. How and why this light is produced is not fully understood. Since tish avoid a net smeared with phosphorescence, it may be that the owner of a phosj>horescent torch thus makes a sign threatening predatory animals that it can sting, or has some other disagreeable or un- wholesome quality. Even in daylight and at a distance the ]ielagic life sometimes may be seen plaiidy, in the form of long streaks of scum or discoloured water; such are known to sailors a^^ "whale ; The Red Sea and the \'ell(»w Sea were so named from the drifts of cuhiiued scum seen there by early explorers. If some of the stuff be fished up with a bucket and magnified with a microscope, it is seen to consist largely of a sea weed called Trichodesma, looking like little bundles of chopped hay. A multitude of tiny creatures subsist upon this Trichodesma and similar plants, the growth of which is extremelv i apiu, and upon such animalculae the larger animals feast in their turn. Even the whale, that numster of {he deep, comes to enjoy the bountet)us s])read. AVhales are divided into twc- great groups, the toothed whales and the whale-bone whales; the toottied whales, the least of which are kiiown as porpoises, tear their prey in theii powerful jaws, as wolves or tigers do on land. But the whale-bone whales are not adapted for hunting, they feed more leisurely by gulping great moutli- fuls of floating stuff, s
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