FRESH-WATER ALG. 235 
A red colour, closely resembling blood, not 
unfrequently astonishes the sailor in some parts 
of the ocean. Captain Tuckey mentions that the 
water of the Gulf of California is reddish, whence 
it is sometimes called the Vermilion Sea. Captain 
Colnett, in his interesting voyages, states that 
‘the set of the currents on the coast of Chili may 
at all times be known by noticing the direction of 
the beds of small blubber (gelatinous algz) with 
which the coast abounds, and from which the 
water derives a colour like that of blood. I have 
often been engaged,’ he adds, ‘for a whole day in 
passing through various sets of them.” D’Orbigny 
also remarks that there are immense tracts off the 
coast of Brazil filled with small animals so numer- 
ous as to impart a red colour to the sea; large 
portions are thus highly coloured, and receive 
from the sailors the name of the Brazil bank, 
which extends over a great part of the coast of 
the country, keeping at nearly the same distance 
from the shore. Another bank of the same kind 
occurs near Cape Horn in latitude 57°, and was 
encountered by Captain Cook during his third 
voyage. Mr. Scoresby narrates that he noticed 
in his last expedition to the Arctic regions in 1823, 
some insulated patches of reddish brown water, 
which were found to be occasioned by minute 
alge ; and often too were the floating icebergs 
