THE ARCTIC SEAS. Igf 



and sixty thousand of these microscopic suckers 

 upon the head of one Clio; an apparatus for pre- 

 hension perhaps unequalled in the creation." 



Numerous as are the hosts of these frolicsome 

 little beings, there are, however, others which vastly 

 exceed them in number; which pass, indeed, beyond 

 the possibility of human computation. Navigators 

 had often noticed, in certain parts of the Arctic Sea, 

 that the water, instead of retaining its usual trans- 

 parency, was densely opaque, and that its hue was 

 grass-green, or sometimes olive-green. It is com- 

 monly known as the " green- water," and though 

 liable to slight shiftings from the force of currents, is 

 pretty constant in its position, occupying about one- 

 fourth of the whole Greenland sea. Mr. Scoresby 

 was the first who ascertained the cause of this pecu- 

 liar hue: on examination he found that the water 

 was densely filled with very minute Medusae, for the 

 most part undistinguishable without a microscope. 

 He computes that within the compass of two square 

 miles, supposing these animalcules to extend to the 

 depth of two hundred and fifty fathoms, there would 

 be congregated a number which eighty thousand 

 persons, counting incessantly from the Creation un- 

 til now, would not have enumerated, though they 

 worked at the rate of a million per week! And 

 when we consider that the area occupied by this 

 green water in the Greenland seas is not less than 

 twenty thousand square miles, what a vast idea does 

 it give us of the profusion of animal life, and of the 

 beneficence of Him who "openeth His hand, and 

 satisfieth the desire of every living thing !" 



