CHAPTER XIV. 



ANIMAL LIFE IN THE SEA MEDUSA FOOD OF THE WHALE PHOS- 

 PHORIC LIGHT CAUSE THEREOF LUMINOSITY OF THE OCEAN. 



EFERE1STCE has elsewhere been made in 

 this volume to the immense amount of 

 animal life that exists in the ocean, not 

 only in the form of fish of all sizes, but in that of 

 animalcules, which, although scarcely visible to the 

 naked eye, are, in some cases, so innumerable as to 

 give a distinct colouring to the water. 



The Medusae , or, more familiarly, sea blubbers, 

 are seen in the waters that lave our own shores. 

 They are of various sizes, from that of a large plate 

 to a pin-head. They are almost colourless, like 

 clear jelly, and when carelessly observed, seem to 

 be dead objects drifting with the tide; but a closer 

 observation shows that they are possessed of life, 

 though not of a particularly active kind, and that 

 they swim by alternate contractions and expansions 

 of their bodies. These creatures constitute a large 

 part of the whale's food. Some of them are flat, 

 some semi-globular, others are bell -shaped, while 



