ANIMAL LIFE IN THE OCEAN. 649 



that the organisms of the sea are as multitudinous as its waves, and as 

 marvellous as its wonders. 



" With such a subject for study and contemplation as these insects 

 afford to all who use the microscope, let no naturalist who crosses the 

 ocean, and no passenger on board ship, or mariner, who can afford to 

 purchase a microscope, talk hereafter about the monotony of a sea 

 voyage, or the ennui of a passage. More varied, strange, and new than 

 the insect life of terra firma, the entomology of the sea, if we may so style 

 the families of its little crustacese, medusae, and zoophytes, offers quite as 

 profitable and as instructive a field of investigation as does the entomology 

 of the air. 



" The floating crustacese of the high seas are classed by naturalists a 

 little lower than the insects of the air, yet, in the scale of being, they 

 rank higher than the worms of the earth. Every one who, with an eye 

 for the microscope, goes to sea, may help, with proper drawings and 

 descriptions of what comes to his net, greatly to enrich this field. Not 

 only so, these mites of moving creatures will tell us in their mute way, if 

 we consult them aright, of all the Currents, Polar and Equatorial, that help 

 to regulate the climates of the great deep. They may be regarded as 

 tallies to the water by which the system and channels of Oceanic Circula- 

 tion are to be pointed out and made visible, as it were, to the eye of 

 science." — Captain Maury. 



This " New Field," as it was termed by Maury, can be readily explored 

 by any one who will take the trouble to do so. A simple contrivance, if 

 a microscope is not at hand, will afford the means. The eye-piece, or 

 first joint of an ordinary telescope, is a very good substitute. To use it 

 for the transparent objects, of which the minute inhabitants of the surface 

 waters generally consist, place them in a drop of water on a piece of 

 glass, held or fixed horizontally a few inches above a sheet of white 

 paper or a looking-glass, and the telescope joint held by the lower part at 

 from a quarter to half an inch above the surface of this glass, will make 

 an excellent microscopic tube of great power, sufficient to show many of 

 the singular forms and great beauties of the animalcules, which can ba 

 easily collected in vast numbers. 



The best or readiest way of obtaining them is to tow a small net, con- 

 sisting of a hoop from one to three feet in diameter, on which is strained 

 a piece of bunting or fine gauze, and this being drained occasionally into 

 a vessel, will afford an abundant harvest. Floating weeds also contain 

 great quantities of minute living creatures, which may be taken by the 

 same means. In a stationary vessel, large numbers of these creatures 

 accumulate on the lee-side. 



It would be entirely beyond the province of this work to deal with the 

 characteristics and families of these inhabitants of the seas, although 

 much good may be done, hydrographically, by the study of their dis- 

 tribution. This subject must be pursued in other works, such as those 

 enumerated on page 916. 



The surface water of the open Ocean generally teems with microscopic 

 animal and vegetable life, but the distribution may vary in quantity. 

 The German " Plankton " Expedition, sent out in 1389 specially to studj 

 A^ A. 0. 83 



