Of The Creature Discovered And
Described By Peron, Phipson Says That It Is "One Of The Most Curious Of
Animals.
It belongs to the tribe of Tunicata.
Each individual resembles a
minute cylinder of glowing phosphorus. Sometimes they are seen adhering
together in such prodigious numbers that the ocean appears as if covered
with an enormous mass of shining phosphorus or molten lava." Professor
Moseley investigated the Pyrosoma while with the Challenger expedition.
He wrote: "A giant Pyrosoma was caught by us in the deep-sea trawl. It
was like a great sac, with its walls of jelly about an inch in thickness.
It was four feet long and ten inches in diameter. When a Pyrosoma is
stimulated by having its surface touched, the phosphorescent light breaks
out just at the spot stimulated, and then spreads over the surface of the
colony to the surrounding animals. I wrote my name with my finger on the
surface of the giant Pyrosoma as it lay on deck, and my name came out in
a few seconds in letters of fire." The author owes this last reference to
an excellent paper on "Phosphorescence in Plants and Animals," by Miss
Freda Bage, M.Sc., printed in the Victorian Naturalist, 21 page 100
November 1904.) His treatise on the Pyrosoma atlanticum is an extremely
interesting example of his scientific work. The creature is weighed and
measured; its appearance is described; then it is carefully taken to
pieces and its structure and internal organisation are minutely detailed;
next there is an account of its functions, and an explanation of how the
phosphorescent appearance is produced; and finally its mode of life,
nutrition, and system of generation are dealt with.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 258 of 299
Words from 71605 to 71887
of 83218
