68 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



water, which only the deep-divers can reach, 

 and if the storm lasts for several days the gan- 

 nets 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 sun- 

 light 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 



