Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 2.djvu/168

146 mineral masses and extensive formations, composed wholly of the remains of microscopic animalculæ, that this colouring matter consisted of countless myriads of an entirely new and minute form of organic life, which he observes arrived at Berlin, in 1844, in a living state, and of which "almost all the separate atoms are independent siliceousshelled creatures." We also found this colouring matter in the stomachs of the small Beroe and other molluscous animals we took in the net, which therefore feed upon these infusoria.

In the evening many whales were seen amongst the ice, and were so tame that the ship struck upon one in passing over it, without having done it any harm, although a shock was felt, but whether from the force with which the vessel struck the whale, or from a blow of its tail, given in return, we could not know.

The wind was moderate from the south-eastward, and the weather clear, but the ice to the southward so close that we were obliged to run more to the westward than we wished, forcing our way from hole to hole as they came in sight from the masthead, and keeping as much to the southward as possible until noon,, when our progress was interrupted by the closeness of the pack. I took this early opportunity of obtaining magnetic observations on a large floe of ice, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the corrections we