234 BRITISH ENTOMOSTRACA. 



Tristan d'Acimha, in the South Atlantic, without his ever 

 havino; been ahle to observe w^hat formed the food of the 

 vv^hales. Leaving that quarter, however, at the end of 

 that time, and steering for Cape Horn, he one morning, 

 in the month of February, observed the surface of the sea 

 streaked with red Hues, of several miles in extent, and 

 giving the appearance of blood to the water. The ex- 

 perienced sailors on board immediately announced that 

 they had now reached the pasture of the whales. 

 /Vccordingly, they very soon afterwards saw them sport- 

 ing about in the midst of these ruddy banks. Upon 

 examining the water thus coloured, Vauzeme found it 

 caused by an immense number of small Crustaceans, 

 which were of a red hue. They swarmed in myriads 

 on the surface of the sea, and, when the wind was bois- 

 terous, a whole bank of them Avould be taken up by a 

 wave, and carried on board the vessel, covering the deck, 

 and the clothes of the sailors. The whales swallowed 

 them in myriads, and they served for food not only 

 to them, but to the Cirrhopodes (the Coronulae and 

 Tubicinella;), which live as parasites upon their skin. 

 The American fishers on that station informed him that 

 these little creatures, in the fine weather of October and 

 November, remain concealed deep under the w^ater, but 

 that after that time, they come to the surface to lay their 

 eggs. In our own seas, this same kind of Crustacean has 

 also been observed to be the food of cetaceous animals. 



In the Frith of Forth, Mr. Goodsir informs us,* that 

 during the summer months, great masses of animal matter 

 abound on the surface of the sea, and that this had long- 

 been noticed by the fishermen on the coast, and was called 

 by them maidrc. Upon examining this matter, in the 

 neighbourhood of the Isle of May, he found it to consist 

 of Cirrhopodes, Crustaceans, and Acalepha ; but that of 

 all these, the Entomostracous Crustaceans abounded in 

 the greatest quantity, " or rather masses," he observes, 



* Edin. New Phil. Jotini., x\xv, S8. 



