~~ pena ae eee eee ee RR... a ee ee eee eee 
‘ 
28 GULF-STREAM—MARINE ANIMALS. 
towards the Straits of Gibraltar, the island of Ma- 
deira, and the Canary Isles. To the south of Ma- 
deira we can distinctly follow its motion to the 
S.E. and S.S.E. bearing on the shores of Africa, 
' between Capes Cantin and Bojador. Cape Blanco, 
which, next to Cape Verd, farther to the south, is 
the most prominent part of that coast, seems again 
to influence the direction of the stream; and in 
this parailel it mixes with the great equinoctial 
eurrent as already described. 
In this manner the waters of the Atlantic, be- 
tween the parallels of 11° and 43°, are carried round 
in a continual whirlpool, which Humboldt caleu- 
lates must take two years and ten months to per- 
form its circuit of 13,116 miles. This great current 
is named the Gulf-stream. Off the coast of New- 
foundland a branch separates from it, and runs from 
S.W. to N.E. towards the coasts of Europe. | 
From Corunna to 36° of latitude, our travel- 
lers had scarcely seen any other animals than 
terns (or sea-swallows) and a few dolphins; but 
on the 11th June they entered a zone in which the 
whole sea was covered with a prodigious quantity of 
meduse. The vessel was almost becalmed; but the 
mollusca advanced towards the south-east with a ra- 
pidity equal to four times thatof the current, and con- 
tinued to pass nearly three quarters of an hour, after 
which only a few scattered individuals were seen. 
Among these animals they recognised the Medusa 
aurita of Baster, the M. pelagica of Bosc, and a 
third approaching in its characters to the M. hyso- 
cella, which is distinguished by its yellowish-brown 
colour, and by having its tentacula longer than the 
body. Several of them were four inches in diame- 
