The Alcyonarians dredged by the “Challenger” were almost invariably brilliantly luminous, making the dredge appear as if red-hot coals were being taken up. The light of the deep-sea forms was similar to that of those dredged on shallow banks, where the phosphorescence is remarkably brilliant; so that we can imagine the wondrous spectacle presented in these little known regions.[14] The sea-fans and plumes, known scientifically as Gorgonias, are extremely common upon the outer Florida reef, and form the chief ornaments of these wonderful gardens of the sea. We have drifted over them by day and night, peering down into the depths, never wearying of the display. There were two forms within diving distance on the reef,--one, a rich yellow, reticulated fan; and the other, a vivid lilac. On the yellow we often found a parasitic shell of almost the exact hue of the Gorgonia; so like it, indeed, that it would not have been noticed if the fan had not been closely examined,--an interesting example of a protective resemblance. At night these waters present a wondrous appearance, gleams of light flashing from every direction. Even the sand at the bottom seemed to give out fitful coruscations; while pale, dim lights told of rare _medusæ_,--the phantoms of this world beneath the sea. The gorgonias emit, as a rule, a light of a beautiful lilac hue; and in some localities the bottom of the ocean is covered with similar forms, all gleaming with this vivid phosphorescence. Imagine a cornfield covering hundreds of acres, the ripe ears emitting a fitful, vivid lilac light, through which dart various animals,--the birds of this submarine region,--their passage creating a blaze of another hue; and some idea can be formed of this scene that conjecture only can picture. Sir Wyville Thompson states, that, when dredging in water nearly a mile deep off St. Vincent, they must have passed over an immense field of light-emitting gorgonias, as the trawls came up filled with a delicate form, “with a thin wire-like axis slightly twisted spirally, a small tuft of irregular rootlets at the base, and long exsert polyps. The stems, which were from eighteen inches to two feet in length, were coiled in great hanks round the trawl-beam, and entangled in masses in the net; and, as they showed a most vivid phosphorescence of a pale lilac color, their immense numbers suggested a wonderful state of things beneath.” Off our Eastern coast the little brush-like gorgonia, _Acanella_,[15] has been observed by Professor Verrill to emit a pale light when brought to the surface. The Gorgonias are all important light-givers. _Primnoa_,[16] a brush coral, and _Paragorgia_[17] have become well known in late years by specimens brought up by the Gloucester fishermen on the Georges Banks. Even when dry and dead, they are extremely attractive; the _Primnoa_ being richly tinted with pink, while the latter has a reddish hue.