d, who was
near the same place in the depth of winter, says little of the cold,
and speaks of a ridge of snowy mountains somewhere on the coast, as a
thing rather remarkable.[1] Our seeing so few birds, in comparison of
what we met with in the same latitudes to the south of the Line,
is another singular circumstance, which must either proceed from a
scarcity of the different sorts, or from a deficiency of places
to rest upon. From hence, we may conclude, that, beyond 40 deg. in the
southern hemisphere, the species are much more numerous, and the isles
where they inhabit also more plentifully scattered about, than any
where between the coast of California and Japan, in or near that
latitude.

[Footnote 1: See Torquemada's Narrative of Viscaino's Expedition
in 1602 and 1603, in the second volume of Vanegas's History of
California, English translation, from p. 229 to p. 308.--D.]

During a calm, on the morning of the 2d, some parts of the sea seemed
covered with a kind of slime, and some small sea-animals were swimming
about. The most conspicuous of which were of the gelatinous or
_medusa_ kind, almost globular; and another sort smaller, that had
a white or shining appearance, and were very numerous. Some of these
last were taken up, and put into a glass cup with some salt water, in
which they appeared like small scales or bits of silver, when at rest,
in a prone situation. When they began to swim about, which they did,
with equal ease, upon their backs, sides, or belly, they emitted
the brightest colours of the most precious gems, according to their
position with respect to the light. Sometimes they appeared quite
pellucid, at other times assuming various tints of blue, from a pale
sapphirine to a deep violet colour; which were frequently mixed with
a ruby or opaline redness; and glowed with a strength sufficient to
illuminate the vessel and water. These colours appeared most vivid
when the glass was held to a strong light; and mostly vanished on the
subsiding of the animals to the bottom, when they had a brownish cast.
But, with candle light, the colour was, chiefly, a beautiful pale
green, tinged with a burnished gloss; and, in the dark, it had a
faint appearance of glowing fire. They proved to be a new species of
_oniscus_, and, from their properties, were, by Mr Anderson, (to whom
we owe this account of them), called _oniscus fulgens_; being probably
an animal which has a share in producing some sorts of that lucid