ter of Whales, Sea Elephants, Seals, and other marine
animals is a sad blot, not only on the character, but on the common
sense, of man.

The monsters of the ocean require large quantities of food, but they are
supplied abundantly. Scoresby mentions cases in which the sea was for
miles tinged of an olive green by a species of Medusa. He calculates
that in a cubic mile there must have been 23,888,000,000,000,000, and
though no doubt the living mass did not reach to any great depth, still,
as he sailed through water thus discoloured for many miles, the number
must have been almost incalculable.

This is, moreover, no rare or exceptional case. Navigators often sail
for leagues through shoals of creatures, which alter the whole colour of
the sea, and actually change it, as Reclus says, into "une masse
animee."

Still, though the whole ocean teems with life, both animals and plants
are most abundant near the coast. Air-breathing animals, whether mammals
or insects, are naturally not well adapted to live far from dry land.
Even Seals, though some of them make remarkable migrations, remain
habitually near the shore. Whales alone are specially modified so as to
make the wide ocean their home. Of birds the greatest wanderer is the
Albatross, which has such powers of flight that it is said even to sleep
on the wing.

Many Pelagic animals--Jelly-fishes, Molluscs, Cuttle-fishes, Worms,
Crustacea, and some true fishes--are remarkable for having become
perfectly transparent; their shells, muscles, and even their blood have
lost all colour, or even undergone the further modification of having
become blue, often with beautiful opalescent reflections. This obviously
renders them less visible, and less liable to danger.

The sea-shore, wherever a firm hold can be obtained, is covered with
Sea-weeds, which fall roughly into two main divisions, olive-green and
red, the latter colour having a special relation to light. These
Sea-weeds afford food and shelter to innumerable animals.

The clear rocky pools left by the retiring tide are richly clothed with
green sea-weeds, while against the sides are tufts of beautiful filmy
red algae, interspersed with Sea-anemones,--white, creamy, pink, yellow,
purple, with a coronet of blue beads, and of many mixed colours;
Sponges, Corallines, Starfish, Limpets, Barnacles, and other shell-fish;
feathery Zoophytes and Annelides expand their pink or white disks, while
here and there a Crab scuttles ac