Page:Aurora Australis.djvu/171

LIFE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. back shattered into clouds of spray. Amid all this turmoil what of the little fragile creatures which are known to swarm everywhere in the water of the sea? Do they retire to calmer depths? If not, how will they fare as the water which is their home is shattered into dust? Surely they must be crushed to death, and perish in multitudes! Let us see!

A net is repeatedly thrown into the foaming crests of the waves as they tumble back, and a large quantity of spray allowed to strain through it. When the contents of the net are transferred to a little clean sea-water, and a drop of this is examined under a microscope, a busy and interesting scene meets the eye.

The water is alive with beautiful little cone-shaped animals of crystal transparency, with a ruby red eye in the middle of the large head. They swim powerfully by means of rapidly vibrating cilia on two projections at the sides of the head.

The animals are Rotifers, Synchæta by name, one of the comparatively few kinds which live in the sea. They dart about in every direction, pursuing some invisible prey: the scene is like a fair. But what of the numbers of maimed and dead which one would expect to find after their stormy experience of a few