THE TEEMING LIFE OF THE WATERS 



creatures, even those which cannot be seen with the 

 naked eye, though these make up for the smallness of 

 their size by an astounding rate of multiplication. 

 Every extreme, both in structure and in dimension, is 

 to be found among these floating, wandering creatures. 

 They cannot be measured by our standards, or judged 

 by norms based upon our common sensations of sight 

 and touch. If we would gain some idea of their 

 reality, we must find new standards by which to form 

 our judgments. 



In this animal plankton the most abundant are also 

 the tiniest. They serve as food for creatures larger 

 than themselves and so enable the whole to subsist. 

 Among them, the Protozoa, at the bottom of the scale, 

 and many microscopic species besides, afford examples 

 of more complicated and elaborate organisms, phos- 

 phorescent Noctilucrf, and Radiolarians with a beautiful 

 siliceous skeleton. Higher up the scale, but still of 

 restricted dimensions, for they are never more than a 

 few millimetres in length, are the Rotifers, the floating 

 larvae of a great many different animals, the little Crus- 

 tacea of the orders of Phyllopods and Ostracods, often 

 given the nickname " Water-fleas," looking like minia- 

 tures of swimming shrimps. These creatures make 

 up for their smallness by their profusion, and play a 

 preponderating part in the general economy of life in 

 the waters. 



The jelly-fish, whose bell-shaped bodies are fitted 

 with long, flexible tentacles, may also be considered 

 among the most characteristic examples of floating 

 animals. Their translucent flesh, sometimes faintly 

 tinted and opalescent, sometimes almost completely 

 transparent and nearly as clear as glass, sometimes 

 bordered or otherwise adorned with brilliantly coloured 

 areas which make them the more striking, gives them an 

 appearance of softness and fragility. When stranded 

 on the shore, they rapidly disintegrate and the waves 

 soon dispose of them. Far out at sea they float in the 



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