Mr Scoresby m the Colour of the Greenland Sea. 
peculiar substance upon it. A little of this snow, dissolved ii^ 
a wine glass, appeared perfectly nebulous; the water being 
found to contain a great number of semi-transparent spherical 
substances, with others resembling small portions of fine hair. 
On examining these substances with a compound microscope, I 
was enabled to make the following observations. 
The semi-transparent globules appeared to consist of an ani-r 
mal of the medusa kind. It was from l-20th to l-30th of an 
inch in diameter. Its surface was marked with twelve distinct 
patches or nebulae, of dots of a brownish colour; these dots 
were disposed in pairs, four pairs, or sixteen pairs alternate- 
ly, composing one nebula. The body of the medusa was 
transparent. When the water cortairiing these animals was 
heated, it emitted a very strong odour, in some respects resem- 
bling the smell of oysters, when thrown on hot coals, but much 
more offensive. The fibrous or hair-like substances, were more 
easily examined, being of a darker colour. They varied in 
length from a point to one-tenth of an inch ; and when highly 
magnified, were found to be beautifully moniliform. In the 
longest specimens, the number of bead-like articulations was 
about thirty; hence their diameter appeared to be about the 
l-300th part of an ipch. Some of these substances seemed to 
vary their appearance ; but whether they were living animals, 
and possessed of locomotion, I could not ascertain. From one 
of the larger specimens I observed sopie fine collateral fibres. 
They possessed the property of decomposing light; and, in 
some cases, showed all the colours of the spectrum very distinct- 
ly. The size of the articulations seemed equal in all, the diffe- 
rence in length being occasioned by a difference in the number 
of articulations. The whole substance had an appearance very 
similar to the horns or antennas of shrimps, fragments of which 
they might possibly be, as the squiUae are very abundant in the 
Greenland Sea. 
I afterwards examined the different qualities of sea-water, 
and found these substances very abundant in that of an olive- 
green colour ; and also occurring, but in less quantity, in the 
bluish-green water. The number of medusa in the olive-green 
^a was found to be immense. They were about one-fourth of 
an inch asunder. In this proportion, a cubic inch of water 
must contain 64; a cubic foot 110,592; a cubic fathom 
