94 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



worms and many of the small Crustacea such as 

 the copepods. On the whole the sand supports a 

 poorer fauna, though on the sand the Zostera, a 

 vivid green, ribbon-like flowering-plant, gives its 

 name to the next zone we traverse. 



Walking further and further towards the depths 

 of the Atlantic we should soon lose all sight of 

 the algae ; and the shallow-water fish, the plaice 

 and sole, whiting, skates, dog-fish and others, and 

 cod, would give way to the megrim and the 

 hake. The sea-floor would gradually change from 

 rock or gravel or stones to sands, and ultimately 

 to mud or oozes of various tints, their original 

 colours often modified by the action of the de- 

 composition of organic particles in them and on 

 them. All these finer deposits are derived from 

 the neighbouring land and are blown seaward 

 by off-shore winds or washed down by rains and 

 streams and carried out to the sea by rivers. 



The distance to which fine matter in suspension 

 may be carried is very great. The Congo is said 

 to carry its characteristic mud as far out to sea 

 as 600 miles, and the Ganges and the Indus as 

 far as 1,000 miles. Except in the neighbourhood 

 of such great rivers a subaqueous traveller would 

 soon pass beyond what Sir John Murray has 



