178 THE OCEAN RIVER 



was first to use the name ''plankton" and first to attempt accu- 

 rate measurement of its importance in the ocean. His North 

 Atlantic cruise of the S.S. National in 1888 was a milestone in 

 plankton research; followed ten years later by another German 

 expedition, that of the Valdivia. Next in order came the North 

 Atlantic cruise of the Norwegian vessel Michael Sars under 

 the direction of Sir John Murray and Dr. Johan Hjort, whose 

 book. The Depths of the Ocean, is still one of the best-illus- 

 trated accounts of biological oceanography, as well as of the 

 ocean currents related to it. 



During the closing years of the nineteenth century and in 

 the years since there have been so many expeditions for the 

 study of ocean life throughout the world that it would be 

 tedious to list them here. Mention must be made, though, of 

 Albert Honore Charles, Prince of Monaco, who used the pro- 

 ceeds of his famous Monte Carlo gambling casino to outfit 

 yachts for scientific work in the Mediterranean and North 

 Atlantic. We have already noted his part in studying ocean 

 currents. He also contributed much to science from his re- 

 search into the food of whales, and among other things made 

 the discovery that the diet of sperm whales includes consider- 

 able quantities of squids. Though as a rule these are sm.all, the 

 contents of one whale stomach showed conclusively that there 

 are even today in the waters of the ocean ferocious giant squids 

 like prehistoric monsters. The true story of these deep-sea 

 monsters completely overshadows such fictional devilfish or 

 octopuses as Hall Caine described in his Toilers of the Deep, 

 for the incomplete arm alone of one of these squids was found 

 to measure 27 feet in length. We know from later discoveries 

 that they may grow to a total length of over 50 feet, or as long 

 as whales themselves, and that they possess enormous arms 

 with great hooked suction cups. Every now and then a whale 

 is found with terrible scars on its body resulting from a fierce 

 encounter with one of these colossal creatures. 



