102 MULTUM E PARVO. 



with minute active animalcules, darting about, and often 

 exploding. They swam by the aid of a ring of vibratory 

 cilia, which suggests the thought of the larvae of some 

 Annelid. They were exceedingly minute, so as to be quite 

 invisible to the naked eye, being not more than one thou- 

 sandth of an inch in length. Their numbers were infinite, 

 for the smallest drop of water which could be removed 

 contained very many. Yet in one day, they passed 

 through two spaces of water thus stained, one of which 

 alone must have extended over several square miles. 

 How utterly inconceivable, then, must have been the mul- 

 titude of these minute creatures ! 



Other navigators have noticed broad expanses of the 

 ocean tinged with colour, well defined ; as the red water 

 seen by M. Lesson off Lima, and that which in the vicinity 

 of California has been called the " Vermilion Sea ; " to 

 which Sir E. Tennent has recently added the sea around 

 Ceylon, which is of a similar hue, and which he has 

 ascertained to be owing to the presence of infusorial 

 animalcules.* 



Off the coast of Brazil, Kotzebue observed on the 

 surface of the sea, a dark brown streak, about twelve feet 

 wide, and extending in length as far as the eye could 

 reach. It was found to consist of an innumerable multi- 

 tude of minute crabs, and the seeds [or air-vessels ?] of a 

 submarine alga. 



In certain parts of the Arctic Ocean the water, instead 

 of being colourless and transparent, is opaque, and of a 



* Ceylon, i , p. 53. . 



