_
LIFE
111
in his Voyage of a Natumlist noted such discolouration, and
mentions passing through two patches of reddish-coloured '
water, “- one of Which must have extended over several
square miles.”
“
What
incalculable
numbers
of
these
microscopical animals ! ” he exclaims.
“
The colour of the
water, as seen at some distance, waslike that of a riv'er
which has owed through a red clay district ; but under the
Shade of the vessel’s side it was quite as dark as chocolate.
The line where the red and blue water joined was distinctly
dened.”
-
:
“
Stinkiug water ” is another eXpression used by sher.
men, and in this case also & characteristic odour is given to
the sea by the presence of hordes of certain organisms.
'
Many of these smalldrifting creatures, in fact almost all, '
are capable of emitting a phosphorescènt light. ' It is these
that make the sea Sparkle with little
of re
.
when we dip our cars into the Water on a dark night.
_
Occ'aSionally, some phosphorescing animals Will swarm
together in such countless numbers that on calm still nights
'
.
the whole sea surface seems to glow
with a pale cold light.
.
Darwin.again describeSsuch a sight in picturesque terms. —
He‘says,
“
While sailing a little south of the Plata on one
.
very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most
beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze,
part of the surface,.which during the day is seen as foam,
now
glowed with a pale light.
The vessel drove before
—
her bows two billoWs of liquid phosphorus,
and in her wake
she was followed by a milky train.
”As far as the eye reached
the crest of every wave was bright, and:the sky above the
horizon, from the reflected are of these livid fiatries, was
not so utterlv obscure as over the vault of the heavens;”
Nearly fty.years ago the word “
plankton
”*
was used
by a German professor
to embrace all this drifting life,
‘
*
((;k',
wandering).
,
_
LIFE
111
in his Voyage of a Natumlist noted such discolouration, and
mentions passing through two patches of reddish-coloured '
water, “- one of Which must have extended over several
square miles.”
“
What
incalculable
numbers
of
these
microscopical animals ! ” he exclaims.
“
The colour of the
water, as seen at some distance, waslike that of a riv'er
which has owed through a red clay district ; but under the
Shade of the vessel’s side it was quite as dark as chocolate.
The line where the red and blue water joined was distinctly
dened.”
-
:
“
Stinkiug water ” is another eXpression used by sher.
men, and in this case also & characteristic odour is given to
the sea by the presence of hordes of certain organisms.
'
Many of these smalldrifting creatures, in fact almost all, '
are capable of emitting a phosphorescènt light. ' It is these
that make the sea Sparkle with little
of re
.
when we dip our cars into the Water on a dark night.
_
Occ'aSionally, some phosphorescing animals Will swarm
together in such countless numbers that on calm still nights
'
.
the whole sea surface seems to glow
with a pale cold light.
.
Darwin.again describeSsuch a sight in picturesque terms. —
He‘says,
“
While sailing a little south of the Plata on one
.
very dark night, the sea presented a wonderful and most
beautiful spectacle. There was a fresh breeze,
part of the surface,.which during the day is seen as foam,
now
glowed with a pale light.
The vessel drove before
—
her bows two billoWs of liquid phosphorus,
and in her wake
she was followed by a milky train.
”As far as the eye reached
the crest of every wave was bright, and:the sky above the
horizon, from the reflected are of these livid fiatries, was
not so utterlv obscure as over the vault of the heavens;”
Nearly fty.years ago the word “
plankton
”*
was used
by a German professor
to embrace all this drifting life,
‘
*
((;k',
wandering).
,
_