234 
AUSTRAL-AFRICAN ISLANDS 
which vividly recall our lonesome Alpine valleys, the 
ground is decked with dense patches of moss. 
The animal world of the land is exceedingly poor *, 
though the forests of gigantic fucus [Macrocystis gigmitea)^ 
Pringlea Antiscorbutica. 
(From the Voyage of the Challenger.) 
and numerous other algae in the surrounding sea, swarm 
with crabs, worms, shell-fish and polypes. 
Among marine mammals, seals are frequently seen on the 
coasts, especially elephant-seals and sea-leopards {Steno- 
rJiyiichus leptonyx [the small-nailed seal]. Formerly whales 
