THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



51 



denly destroyed tlie citizens no light 

 would shine there. At sea there are 

 few nigtits when jihosphorescent lights 

 do not glow and glinnner where the 

 wave rolls back from the ship's stem, 

 and in the city of the sea each light al- 

 so counts for a life. Sometimes, 

 though rarely, the whole sea may be 

 seen ablaze with phospliorescenee, and 

 the waves rolling in a l)road sheet of 

 golden light. 



Most of the animals that shine thus 

 by night are transparent creatures look- 

 ing like little lumps of jelly. How and 

 why this light is produced is not fully 

 understood. Since tish avoid a net 

 smeared with phosphorescence, it may 

 be that the owner of a phosj>horescent 

 torch thus makes a sign threatening 

 predatory animals that it can sting, or 

 has some other disagreeable or un- 

 wholesome quality. 



Even in daylight and at a distance 

 the ]ielagic life sometimes may be seen 

 plaiidy, in the form of long streaks of 

 scum or discoloured water; such are 

 known to sailors a^^ "whale food." The 

 Red Sea and the \'ell(»w Sea were so 

 named from the drifts of cuhiiued scum 

 seen there by early explorers. If some 

 of the stuff be fished up with a bucket 

 and magnified with a microscope, it is 

 seen to consist largely of a sea weed 

 called Trichodesma, looking like little 

 bundles of chopped hay. A multitude 

 of tiny creatures subsist upon this 

 Trichodesma and similar plants, the 

 growth of which is extremelv i apiu, 

 and upon such animalculae the larger 

 animals feast in their turn. 



Even the whale, that numster of {he 

 deep, comes to enjoy the bountet)us 

 s])read. AVhales are divided into twc- 

 great groups, the toothed whales and 

 the whale-bone whales; the toottied 

 whales, the least of which are kiiown 

 as porpoises, tear their prey in theii 

 powerful jaws, as wolves or tigers do 

 on land. But the whale-bone whales 

 are not adapted for hunting, they feed 

 more leisurely by gulping great moutli- 

 fuls of floating stuff, straining out the 

 water through their whale-bone filter-, 

 and swallowing the solids left. 



When Christopher Columbus sailed 

 on his famous voyage of discovery to 

 America, his ship became entangled 



among vast masses of floating seaweed 

 in wliat is now known as the Sargasso 

 Sea. Either Columbus exaggerated his 

 adventure, or he was unlucky in en- 

 countering an unusual pack, tor modem 

 stamen have not found tlie weed to ex- 

 tend so continuously as he reported, or 

 to constitute a real impediment to navi- 

 gation. Each branch of this lloating 

 weed provides a home for a swarm oi 

 crabs, prawns, fish, and molluscs. At 

 rest an«l clinging to the weed these can 

 scarcely be detected ; when disturbed they 

 may make temporary mistakes in hurrying 

 back to shelter, so that a white-cUe- 

 ([uered crab may crouch on a dark bacic- 

 ground. But after a few minutes' peace 

 they sort themselves into their proper 

 hiding places and again become invis- 

 ible. 



These surface animals have been no- 

 ticed at some length l)ecause of their 



An abyssal Sponge. Delicate meshes of glassy 

 spicules constitute a skeleton supporting the 

 soft tissues of the animal, and the mop of 

 flowing fibres serves as a root to anchor it in 

 the mud. 

 From Perrier's "Les Explorations sous marins." 



