66 DISCREPANCIES. 



of a column of sea-water, from twelve to eighteen hun- 

 dred feet in height, must be quite inconceivable to us ; 

 and we are at a loss to imagine how the corporeal tissues 

 can sustain it, and how the vital functions can be carried on. 

 Yet the presence of these creatures implies the presence 

 of others. The mollusca are mostly feeders on infusoria 

 and diatomacece ; therefore these minute animalcules 

 and plants must habitually live there. The zoophytes 

 are all carnivorous, and being all stationary, or nearly so, 

 the prey on which they feed must be abundant there in 

 proportion to their requirements. Perhaps this may 

 partly consist of the mollusca ; but it is highly probable 

 that Crustacea and annelida likewise abound.* One 

 species of the former class has, indeed, been discovered 

 in the profound sea. A small kind of lobster, named 

 Calocaris Macandrece, about as large as a small prawn, 

 was dredged by Mr MacAndrew, (after whom it has been 

 named,) in the Scottish seas, at a depth of one hundred 

 and eighty fathoms. t 



Who would expect to find the expanse of everlasting 

 snow in the Arctic regions, and at the summits of the 

 Alps, the seat of abundant life, whether vegetable or ani- 

 mal? Yet such is the fact. Ross observed, in Baffin's 

 Bay, a range of cliffs covered with snow which was tinged 

 with a brilliant crimson colour for an extent of eight 

 miles, the hue penetrating from the surface down to the 



* See, for the facts, Woodward's Mollusca, p. 441 ; and Fauna Litt. 

 Noweg., ii. pp., 73, 87. 

 t BeU's Brit. Crust, p. 233. 



