New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-02-18
LIGHT GIVING ANIMALS.
Sore Curious PhoSphOrcscc"i Great
urcs Found IN the Sea.

If some inventor shall arise who can devise
ways and means whereby every home in tho
United States can be successfully equipped with
an ineXhaustibe supply of pyrosoma it is pos
sible there viii be more wrdngling over gas
DIS no more deaths by asphyXation, no moro
trouble with breaking Carbons in electric light
bulbs; in short, it is just possible that the light
ing problem will have been solved. But that Is
all-it is not at all probable and until scientists
know more about the pyrosoma than they do
now. that animal will remain simply q curiosity;
one of the most interesting phosphorescent ami
mails in the world.
According to a writer in THE Scientific Amer
lean" there are. however on record. several in
stances of persons having put the light emitted
by this peculiar animal to practical purposes
One specimen kept alive in tank in a dark
room would, when stirred with stick emit
light strong enough to enable one TO read me-
dunn sized print The light is described as
ghostly ard though the writer does not say so.
the sensation must have been anything but COM
Portable when reading in a light from such q
source.
Still another writer tells of having written his
name with his finger upon the side Of a giant
pyrosoma, whereupon the characters were in
stantly reproduced in letters Of living fire
French Zoologist, who met Il school of pyrosoma-
says that they resembled red hot balls OF fire."
but the claim is advanced for Bihra, Bra
lillian naturalist, that he the first TO put
the light Of these queer creatures to practical
purpose. Placing six small ones in a swinging
glass in his cabin, he is said to have written
description Of the animals by their own light
By some the pyrosoma is called the frebarrel
and the name is not out Of place, for the animal
does resemble a barrel, being about a foot In
length ard open at one end. 1t is in the tropics
that il is found at its best, but it is also found
sometimes in the waters of the islands of South
ern California One caught in Avalon Bay in
these waters some time ago was successfully
placed in a tank and photographed. First seem
a blaze OF light about ten feet below the surface
as It slowly rose to the surface it was supposed
to be huge jelly fish. Through the window
of a glass bottomed boat its course was followed
as it rose and then its shape was to be
long and cylindrical A faint light emitted
from the animal, but the moment it was touched
IT blazed out in a bright glare of silvery green
light
Close examination, well as its photograph,
reveals the fact that the pyrosoma is not ono
animal but in reality millions of minute little
creatures all Joined together in one body by in
soluble ties. Each Of these little individual ami
mails in feeding draws in water that is expelled
into the inside space, and out into the sea again
through the opening at one end of the composite
animal 1t Is this process or taxing IN ana
ejecting water that forces the pyrosoma along
In the tropics the pyrosoma often grows to great
size. One found there is said to have measured
four feet in length and 10 have been ten inches
In diameter. Scientists give the pyrosoma high
rank in the different stages of animal life, class,
ing it little lower than the fishes. Indeed. IL
IS claimed that in the larvie OF some forms
notocord is TO be found, believed by some to be
primitive backbone.
The light emitted by these wonderful ami
mails varies both in tint and color, some giving
off a comparatively white light, others a blush
light and still others a beautiful pale greenish
light The brilliancy of the light given off by
vast number of these animals when grouped
ogether is best described by Sir Wyville Thomp-
son, who wrote of sailing through large num-
Der of them in this fashion: 1t easy
natter to read the smallest print sitting at the
eighth