The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

FAUNA AND FLORA.iaabundant proofs to the contrary, and naturalists had found many animal formsbelow the limits assigned to them by the learned explorer. Nevertheless suchtestimony had not received all the attention it deserved, and the triumphantscientific expeditions of the Lightning and Porcupine were needed before theprevious labours of Ross, Wallich, Sars, Fleeming, Jenkin, and Milne-Edwardscould be regarded as definitely secured to science. At all their sounding stationsCarpenter, "Wyville Thomson, and Gwyn Jeffreys found the ocean bed covered withanimal organisms. In the great troughs of the Spitzbergen seas Torell had alsofound such organisms in prodigious quantities, far superior in the wealth of theirforms to those of the Scandinavian seaboard. Even at the depth of 2,700 fathoms,Fig. 8.— Zone of the Cold Waters in the North Atlantic.the lowest reached by the plummet, the Arctic Ocean possesses a fauna of manyspecies. The explorations have but slightly increased the number of fishes knownto science, but the museums have been enriched by many new echinoderms, somevery curious and extremely beautiful, and Wyville Thomson alone has beenenabled to describe 250 new species of molluscs. On the other hand, the limits ofthe marine flora have remained unchanged. Beyond 50 fathoms the algae becomerare, disappearing altogether at a depth of 200 fathoms.The wealth of the fauna is all the greater in the northern seas of Europebecause their waters flow from different climatic regions. The currents of warmwater forming the upper strata bring with them southern organisms, while the