166 



THE OCEAN. 



which it changes its place, These motions are 

 amusing ; and as the little creatures are so abundant, 



Food of the Whale: 

 1, Limacina helicina ; 2, 3, 4, Medusce; 5, Clio borealis. 



they make the dreary sea quite alive with their gam- 

 bols as they dance merrily along. In swimming, the 

 Clio brings the tips of its fins almost into contact, 

 first on one side, then on the other : in calm weather 

 they rise to the surface in myriads, for the purpose of 

 breathing, but scarcely have they reached it before 

 they again descend into the deep. Mr. Scoresby 

 kept several of them alive in a glass of sea- water for 

 about a month, when they gradually wasted away 

 and died. The head of one of these little creatures 

 exhibits a most astonishing display of the wisdom of 

 God in creation, Around the mouth are placed six 

 tentacles, each of which is covered with about three 

 thousand red specks, which are seen by the micro- 

 scope to be transparent cylinders, each containing 

 about twenty little suckers, capable of being thrust 

 out, and adapted for seizing and holding their minute 

 prey, "Thus, therefore, there will be three hundred 



