346 * ‘THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 
and other marine animals is a sad blot, not ; 
only on the character, but on the common 
sense, of man. oy , 
The monsters of the ocean require large 
quantities of food, but they are supplied 
abundantly. Scoresby mentions cases in 
which the sea was for miles tinged of an 
olive green by a species of Medusa. He 
calculates that in a cubic mile there must 
have been 23,888,000,000,000,000, and though 
no doubt the living mass did not reach to any 
great depth, still, as he sailed through water 
thus discoloured for many miles, the number 
must have been almost incalculable. 
This is, moreover, no rare or exceptional 
case. Navigators often sail for leagues 
through shoals of creatures, which alter the 
whole colour of the sea, and actually change 
it, as Reclus says, into “une masse animée.” 
Still, though the whole ocean teems with 
life, both animals and plants are most abun- 
dant near the coast. Air-breathing animals, 
whether mammals or insects, are naturally 
not well adapted to live far from dry land. 
Even Seals, though some of them make re- 
