Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/92

 80- ATLANTIC OCEAN small chironecte* is most abundant, which con- structs a peculiar nest for its eggs, by fasten- ing several sprigs of gulf weed together. It has been said that no similar accumulation of floating seaweed was known in any other part of the world ; but a Sargasso sea, bearing the same relations to the North Pacific currents which the Atlantic one bears to the Gulf stream, is found to the northward of the Sand- wich islands, and appears to occupy a still larger space. It is, however, very little known. 2. Animals. The cold seas seem to be more favorable to the development of mammalia than the warmer ones. Thus the highest in the scale among those inhabiting the ocean, the polar bear, is found in the furthest north, and is only an occasional visitor of the shores of the Atlantic proper, when car- ried along by the ice. The seal family is also most numerously represented in the arctic re- gions ; the North Atlantic and Arctic harbor- ing only earless seals, the South Atlantic eared seals likewise. One or two imperfectly known species are reported in the West Indies, and one in the Mediterranean. Of the manatees, which are more fresh-water than marine ani- mals, two species are found on the American tropical shores and one in Africa. The walrus retreats from persecution further north every year, so that its original distribution is uncer- tain. The same may be said of some of the whales, particularly of the right whales, two species of which have been described from the north, the one confined to the frozen ocean, the other, almost extinct, inhabiting the region between this and lat. 40. No right whales are found in the tropics, but a third species is found south of the tropic of Capricorn. The finback whales appear to frequent all the oceans except the frozen regions. The sperm whale is found chiefly in the warmer seas, S. of lat. 45 N. ; it is said to pass Cape Horn, but not the Cape of Good Hope. Of the smaller cetaceans known as porpoises, the genus phoc&na is chiefly northern, delphinus almost universal. Of the families of birds fre- quenting the Atlantic ocean, the ducks have their greatest development in the far north, visiting the temperate regions in winter ; they are much more scantily represented in the South Atlantic. The auks and divers are also northern birds, and are in a great measure re- placed by the penguins in the southern cold regions. The pelican family flourishes best in the tropics, where it has its large representa- tives, the pelicans, frigates, phaetons, &c. ; while cormorants and gannets extend as far as the cold temperate zone. The petrels, the most pelagic of birds, are seen in all latitudes, but with a strong preponderance in the southern cold region. The giant of the tribe, the alba- tross, visits the coast of South America as far X. as the Rio de la Plata. The gulls and terns are seen everywhere. Of reptiles, the Atlan- tic has only four species of turtles, inhabiting the wanner seas, and only occasionally carried ATLAS to higher latitudes by warm currents. Marine snakes, common in the Pacific, are entirely ab- sent in the Atlantic. The North Atlantic is perhaps of all seas the best provided with use- ful fishes. The gadoids or cod family, the pleuronects (halibut, turbot, &c.), the her- rings and mackerels are nowhere else in such abundance and excellence as on both sides of that ocean. In the tropics the large serrani (gropers) are a characteristic group. The bright-colored tropical fishes, such as cheto- donts and others, seem to be confined to the same limits as the corals, the coasts of America bached by the equatorial current. Large repre- sentatives of the mackerel tribe, the corypha-- nti, improperly called dolphin, and the flying fishes, are the most common inhabitants of the high seas. Of Crustacea peculiar to the At- lantic, the king or horseshoe crab of North America deserves mention, only one other species of the genus being known, in the Mo- lucca islands. The mollusks are nearly all dif- ferent in the Atlantic from those in the other oceans, even when so slender a barrier as the isthmus of Panama is interposed. In the Fue- gian and South African provinces alone is there a gradual merging through a common fauna with that of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Similar remarks might be made with regard to most of the radiates. Most of the known living crinoids inhabit the Atlantic. The corals are distributed altogether in accordance with the warm current. The W. coast of Af- rica, washed by comparatively cold currents, has scarcely any. The coast of South America, re- ceiving warm water from the equatorial current, has a greater abundance, though their growth is checked by the fresh water and mud of the great rivers. But they flourish in the West Indies and as far north as Bermuda, under the influence of the Gulf stream and other warm water currents. The West Indian coral fauna is destitute of trnafungm and of pocillipora, both so common in the Pacific. It has on the other hand a great abundance of gorgoniacece (sea fans, sea feathers). For ocean life at great depths, see DKEDGING. ATLANTIS, according to the tradition of the Greek geographers (in which some recognize a vague knowledge of America), a large island in the Atlantic ocean, to the west of the N. W. coast of Africa and the pillars of Hercules. It was fabled to possess a numerous population, begotten by Neptune of mortal women. The sea kings of Atlantis were said to have invaded the west of Europe and of Africa, and to have been defeated by the Athenians and their allies. The inhabitants finally became despe- rately wicked, and the island was swept away by a deluge. Plato mentions the island in his Timseus. On the old Venetian maps, Atlantis is put to the west of the Azores and Canaries. ATLAS, in Greek mythology, son of Japetus and Clymene, and brother of Epimetheus and Prometheus. Defeated with the other Titans by Jupiter, he was condemned to bear heaven