a4 
~ 198 Foreign Literature and Science. 
on the natural history of fossil shells, has been published 
in the her ast by those able mineralogists, A. Brog- 
niart. and A. G- Desmarest. It is entitled, “ Histoire natu- 
relle des crustacés fossiles sous les rapports zoologiques et 
geologiques ; savoir, les Trilobites, par M. A. Broneniart, 
membre de institut, et les crustaces proprement dits, par 
M. G. A. Desmarest, professeur a I’ Ecole'd’Alfort, &c. 
6. 4 New Journal of Natural Science has been commenced 
at Copenhagen, under the editorship of professors Girsted, 
Horneman, and Rheinhardt, and Dr. Bredsdorf. 
7. Color of Sea Water.—The color of the polar seas pre- 
sents various tints from intense blue to olive green. These 
tints do not depend on the state of the air, but solely upon 
the quantity of water. ‘They are divided into bands of va- 
- rious shades, in which whales are more frequently found 
than in all other parts of the sea. It has long been thought 
that those greenish waters take their tint from the depth 
of the sea. Captain Scoresby however, has discovered in 
these waters by means of a microscope, a great number of 
spherical globules, semi-transparent, accompanied by de- 
tached filaments similar to small locks of very fine hair- 
These globules are__'_ and —!— of an inch in diameter, 
1720 730 
¢ 1 
and on this pig os 12 nebulosities, composed of brown- 
dimensions, are —— of aninch. Examined by the most 
powerful lens each filament appears to be a chain of moril- 
iform articulations, the number of which in the largest fila- 
mentis about 300. The diameter is not more than —— 
erof locomotion; but he is convinced that it is to the 
presence of these microscopic beings that the polar seas 
owe the various tints of green which are observed in them. 
He calculates that one cubic foot of this water may con- 
tain 110,592 globnies of these Medusxe, and a cubic mile 
about 23,888,000 hundreds of millions. He supposes that 
these animalcule furnish nutriment to the Actinia sepia 
