346 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



and other marine animals is a sad blot, not 

 only on the character, but on the common 

 sense, of man. 



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 animee." 



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- 



