68 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



divers can reach, and if the storm lasts for 

 several days the gannets and similar sea-fowl 

 begin to starve. They become weak, and they 

 get battered. Perhaps this is part of the 

 explanation of the fact that the gannet often 

 stores fish beside its resting-place on the 

 rocky island. 



THE FLOATING SEA-MEADOWS 



If we are to understand the life of the open 

 sea at all, we must picture what Sir John 

 Murray called the " floating sea-meadows," 

 vast tracts of water thickly peopled by minute 

 plants, e.g. those Algae called Diatoms. On 

 these everything else depends. For the pelagic 

 Algae are possessed of the chlorophyll pigment 

 that marks all green plants, and they are thus 

 able to utilise the energy of the sunlight to 

 build up the simple materials of air, water, and 

 salts into complicated substances like starch, on 

 which minute animals can feed. Of almost all 

 animals it must be said that they can feed only 

 on what is living, or has been living, or has 

 been made by something living ; but green 

 plants feed on what is not living air, water, 

 and salts. Therefore, in tracing the circulation 



