THE ARCTIC SEAS. \tf 



and sixty thousand of these microscopic suckers 

 upon the head of one Clio; an apparatus for pre- 

 .hension perhaps unequalled in the creation." 



Numerous as are the hosts of these frolicsome 

 little beings, there are, however, others which vastly 

 exceed them in number; which pass, indeed, beyond 

 the possibility of human computation. Navigators 

 had often noticed, in certain parts of the Arctic Sea, 

 that the water, instead of retaining its usual trans- 

 parency, was densely opaque, and that its hue was 

 grass-green, or sometimes olive-green. It is com- 

 monly known as the "green- water," and though 

 liable to slight shiftings from the force of currents, is 

 pretty constant in its position, occupying about one- 

 fourth of the whole Greenland sea. Mr. Scoresby 

 was the first who ascertained the cause of this pecu- 

 liar hue: on examination he found that the water 

 was densely filled with very minute Medusae, for the 

 most part undistinguishable without a microscope. 

 He computes that within the compass of two square 

 miles, supposing these animalcules to extend to the 

 depth of two hundred and fifty fathoms, there would 

 be congregated a number which eighty thousand 

 persons, counting incessantly from the Creation un- 

 til now, would not have enumerated, though they 

 worked at the rate of a million per week! And 

 when we consider that the area occupied by this 

 green water in the Greenland seas is not less than 

 twenty thousand square miles, what a vast idea does 

 it give us of' the profusion of animal life, and of the 

 beneficence of Him who "openeth His hand, and 

 eatisfieth the desire of every living thing!" 



