168 THE SEA. 



soluble matter, till they are ejected in the fascal pellet, 

 to be dispersed and carried down individually to the 

 still, and silent, and sombre ocean-floor. 



When we consider the immensurable multitudes of 

 these molluscous animals that throng the seas, which 

 feed almost exclusively on the organisms I am speak- 

 ing of, we shall see how immense a quantity of inor- 

 ganic matter (yet of organic origin) is every moment 

 being discharged into the sea, and every moment 

 arriving at the bottom. But a very large proportion 

 arrives at the same terminus by other stages, consider- 

 ably modifying its conditions and ultimate form. The 

 Salpce, and similar creatures form the main food of 

 millions of voracious fishes. The shells and frustules 

 of lime and flint contained in the stomachs and intes- 

 tines of the former are received into those of the latter ; 

 and, passing this ordeal uninjured, as well as the 

 other, are in like manner discharged, after digestion, 

 free from their own organic contents, and those by 

 which they were enveloped. But these pelagic fishes 

 are preyed upon by pelagic birds ; and the Diatoms 

 and Foraminifers pass into the stomachs of these cla- 

 morous sea-fowl, and form the basis of the guano 

 which is ever accumulating on the whitening rocks. 



Again, these soft-bodied Mollusca constitute the 

 principal sustenance of the giant Cetocea. The wal- 

 lowing whale, or the huge cachalot, drives, with ex- 

 panded jaws, into such a shoal of close-packed Salpce, 

 as Dr Wallich describes ; then, closing his enormous 

 mouth, he lazily entombs myriads of the soft unresist- 



