276 



FIRST YEAR SCIENCE 



and volcanoes, sometimes topped with coral islands, alone 

 vary the monotony. It is the nether world of gloom 



and unaltering sameness, 

 derelicts of 

 after their 

 fierce 

 wind 



Here the 

 ages past, 



buffeting with 

 and wave, have 

 found a quiet, change- 

 less haven where they 

 may lie undisturbed un- 

 til absorbed into the 

 substance of the all-en- 

 folding water. Some 

 animal species which 

 lived in the light of 

 former geological, ages 

 have here found a rest- 

 ing place where the 

 strife of progress is 

 stilled and the laggard 

 in the race of develop- 

 ment may live in peace. 

 130, The Carpet of the Ocean Floor. Near the shore, the 

 floor of the ocean is covered with sand and mud derived 

 from the waste of the land. In the deeper sea the cover- 

 ing is a fine-textured material of animal origin called 

 ooze. It is composed of the shells of minute animals that 

 live near the surface. The most abundant shell is that of 

 a minute animal called the globigerina, hence the deposit is 

 often called the gloligerina ooze. 



At a depth of about 3000 fathoms (18,000 feet) these 

 shells disappear and a reddish clay appears. This-clay is 

 believed to be due to meteoric and volcanic dust and to 

 the insoluble parts that remain after the calcareous (lime- 



CRINOID. 



An animal now found only at considerable 

 depths in the ocean. 



