DISCBEPANCIE& 



being all stationary, or nearly so, the prey on 

 which they feed must be abundant there in pro- 

 portion to their requirements. Perhaps this may 

 partly consist of the mollusca; but it is highly 

 probable that Crustacea and nnnelUhi likewise 

 abound.* One species of the former class has, in- 

 deed, been discovered in the profound sea. A 

 small kind of lobster, named Calocaris Macan- 

 drem, 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 ever- 

 lasting snow in the Arctic regions, and at the 

 summits of the Alps, the seat of abundant life, 

 whether vegetable or animal? 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 very rock, a depth of twelve feet. The 

 same phenomenon has been observed in other 

 parts of the Polar regions, on the glaciers of the 

 Alps, and in other similar circumstances. Scien- 

 tific investigation has proved this colour to be 

 caused by the excessive abundance of minute 

 organisms, mostly vegetable, of a very simple 

 character, in the form, according to Dr. Greville, 

 of a gelatinous layer, on which rest a vast number 

 of minute globules, resembling, in brilliance and 

 colour, fine garnets. I Professor Agassiz, how- 

 ever, maintains that these globules are not vege- 

 tables, but the eggs of a minute though highly- 

 organised animal, one of the Rotifera, named 



* See, for the facts, Woodward's M Mollusca," p. 441 ; and 

 M Fauna Litt. Norveg.," ii. pp. 73, 87. 



+ Bell s " Brit. Crust.," p. 233. 



$ See " Cryptog. Flora," p 231. 

 69 



