Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-05-27
The Inhabitants Of the Sea.

THESE inhabitants of the sea are found
in absolutely countless numbers. No
census of old Oceans population ever has
been taken, or ever can be. They exist in
all waters, the hot as well as the cold, the
fresh as well as the salt. The mariner in
the tropic sea is startled to find the ocean
all about him growing luminous, as
though the very water beneath the hot
equatorial sun had turned to flame.
Flashes of vermilion-colored light dart
from the keel of his vessel as it plows the
surface of the waters, and streams of light
like lightning sparkle and play upon its
waves. If, overcoming his superstiti0us
fears by growing accustomed to the sight,
he drops bucket into the luminous sea,
he brings up what seems less like water
than like molten lead. 1t lights the fore
castle like torch. He plunges his hand
into the water. 1t comes out covered with
luminous particles glittering like
diamonds full of light. How innumera-
BILE must be these almost infinitesimal
glow.worms of the sea, thus to convert
the ocean into sea Of light.
Sometimes these tiny creatures tint in
stead of illumining the sea. Insects
whose diameter is less than that of hair,
300 of whom placed in line would not
make an inch In length, whiten the waters
of the ocean by their presence, and make
what the Dutch sailors call the Milky Sea,
or Sea of Snow. In 1854, in the Bay of
Bengal, Captain Kingman passed for thir-
ty miles through the middle of large
patch of sea white with these creatures.
Thirty miles of animalcules 300 of whom
would hardly constitute an inch! Seamen
sometimes meet with fred fogs,' especially
In the vicinity of the Cape de Verd Islands.
Ehrenbeix has examined this fog with
his microscope. He finds that its tin
is given to it By infinitesimal shells of in
fusoria, brought by the winds from the
coasts Of South America. Let the reader
imagine, if he can, how many of these
shells, so small as to be quite invisible to
the naked eye, there must be to produce
a cloud large enough and dense enough
to perplex the navigator. Now, are the
plants less minute or less numerous
Freycinct and Turrel, when on board the
corvette La Creole in the neighborhood of
Tajo, in the Isle of Lucan, observed an
extent of thirty-five square miles of ocean
tinted light red. This Olor proved to
be due to the presence of a marine plant,
so small that in square inch there were
5000, 900 individuals. As the celebration
extended to a considerable depth, it
would be impossible to form any adequate
conception of their number, still less to
calculate it. 1t is the presence of SINH
lar natural dye which has given to the
Red Sea its name. These minute objects,
however, are by no means confined to the
surface of tie sea, or to tropical climates (;
they are found in all ATTITUDES and in all
waters. The great rivers TEEN with them.
The Ganges transports in the course of
one year a mass of invisible infusoria
equal In volume to six or eight of the
great Pyramids of Egypt. Water brought
up from the depth of q 800 feet, between
the Philippine and the Marianne Islands,
was found to contain 116 species. In the
arctic regions, where the intense cold
forbids all other animal life, the infusoria
are still to be found, possessing hardy
constitution which defies all climates. In
the residuum of blocks of ice nearly fifty
different species have been discovered.
At depth Of the sea which exceeds the
height of the Hottest mountain, Hum
boldt asserts that there are to be found
an innumerable phalanx of animals, i'm
perceptible to the human eye.-Harper's
Magazine for May.