170 Things not generally Known. 



tcal ffieograpljg of tfje 



CLIMATES OF THE SEA. 



THE fauna and flora of the Sea are as much the creatures 

 of Climate, and are as dependent for their well-being upon 

 temperature, as are the fauna and flora of the dry land. Were 

 it not so, we should find the fish and the algae, the marine 

 insect and the coral, distributed equally and alike in all parts 

 of the ocean ; the polar whale would delight hi the torrid 

 zone ; and the habitat of the pearl oyster would be also under 

 the iceberg, or in frigid waters colder than the melting ice. 



THE CIRCULATION OF THE SEA. 



The coral islands, reefs, and beds with which the Pacific 

 Ocean is studded and garnished, were built up of materials 

 which a certain kind of insect quarried from the sea- water. 

 The currents of the sea ministered to this little insect ; they 

 were its hod- carriers. When fresh supplies of solid matter 

 were wanted for the coral rock upon which the foundations of 

 the Polynesian Islands were laid, these hod-carriers brought 

 them in unfailing streams of sea-water, loaded with food and 

 building -materials for the coralline: the obedient currents 

 thread the widest and the deepest sea. Now we know that 

 its adaptations are suited to all the wants of every one of its 

 inhabitants, to the wants of the coral insect as well as those 

 of the whale. Hence we know that the sea has its system of 

 circulation : for it transports materials for the coral rock from 

 one part of the world to another ; its currents receive them 

 from rivers, and hand them over to the little mason for the 

 structure of the most stupendous works of solid masonry that 

 man has ever seen the coral islands of the sea. 



TEMPERATURE OF THE SEA. 



Between the hottest hour of the day and the coldest hour 

 of the night there is frequently a change of four degrees in 

 the Temperature of the Sea. Taking one-fifth of the Atlantic 

 Ocean for the scene of operation, and the difference of four 



* The author is largely indebted for the illustrations in this new field of 

 research to Lieutenant Maury's valuable work, The Physical Geography of the Sea. 

 Sixth edition. Harper, New York ; Low, Son, and Co., London. 



