NATURE IN MOTION. 61 



with unusually broad faces, to the Azores, and thus con- 

 tributed to the discovery of our continent by confirming 

 Columbus in his faith in the existence of a New World. 

 Greenlanders and* Esquimaux have even been carried alive 

 across the Atlantic, and found themselves, to their amaze- 

 ment, on the coast of England. 



Nor are these always individual journeys. Currents of 

 air carry myriads of vegetable seeds, and with them count- 

 less eggs of insects and infusoria all over the world. To 

 settle this formerly disputed question, a German philoso- 

 pher, Unger, placed several plates of glass, carefully 

 cleaned, between the almost air-tight double sashes with 

 which he protected his study against the rigors of a fierce 

 northern climate. Six months later, he took them out 

 and examined the dust that had fallen on them through 

 imperceptible cracks and crevices, with the microscope. 

 The result was, that he discovered, in the apparently in- 

 organic dust, the pollen of eight distinct plants, the seeds 

 of eleven varieties of fungus, the eggs of four higher in- 

 fusoria, and living individuals of at least one genus ! 



But larger animals also are thus carried about by as 

 yet little known modes of conveyance. There exist, among 

 others, countless examples, from the oldest times to our 

 own, of mice and rats, insects, fishes, and reptiles being 

 carried off by storms and whirlwinds far from home. 

 Only a few years ago, a long and violent rain in the 

 heart of France brought with it millions of .well-sized 

 fishes, which were eagerly devoured by hosts of storks and 

 crows, and other birds, that came suddenly from the four 

 quarters of the wind, to share in the rich and unexpected 



