. A contribution to American thalassography : Three cruises of the United States Coast and geodetic survey steamer "Blake", in the gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean sea, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States, from 1877 to 1880. Blake (Steamer); Marine animals -- Atlantic Ocean; Marine sediments. 68 THREE CRUISES OF THE '' BLAKE.'. and very pearly. The shallow-water forms may subsist on stony algse or other plants, but the majority are flesh-eaters, or feed upon the corallines and foraminifers, parts of whose shells are found in their stomachs. While not so brilliantly colo


. A contribution to American thalassography : Three cruises of the United States Coast and geodetic survey steamer "Blake", in the gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean sea, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States, from 1877 to 1880. Blake (Steamer); Marine animals -- Atlantic Ocean; Marine sediments. 68 THREE CRUISES OF THE '' BLAKE.'. and very pearly. The shallow-water forms may subsist on stony algse or other plants, but the majority are flesh-eaters, or feed upon the corallines and foraminifers, parts of whose shells are found in their stomachs. While not so brilliantly colored, the deep-water Trochidas are unsurpassed in beauty by their shallow-water allies. They gain in delicacy and iridescence what they lose in depth of tint. One of the handsomest forms is Calliostoma Bairdil Verrill, whose pale, depressed, and more delicate southern variety, C. psyche, was first dredged by Pourtales. It is, like many other species of similar range, tinted with pink and straw- color, while farther north it assumes brown and red livery. Even more delicate and pecu- liar in the concave outline of its granular spire and polished base is Calliostoma aurora (Fig. 285), of which only a single specimen is known, — a genus most" characteristic of Western America. It seems as if differences of temperature and food were indicated in very similar ways between northern and tropical animals, whether they live in the deep sea or inhabit the land. A real treasure of the sea is Gaza superba (Fig. 286), one of the most beautiful and widely distributed abys- sal shells. Were it not for its lovely iridescent pearly sheen, it might be taken, on a casual examination, for Fig. 2s6. — Gaza superba. one of our large straw-colored land snails. Other characteristic species, widely distributed, are Mar- garita ceglees and Leptothyra induta (Fig. 287) of Watson, small white shells from deep water, named from examples collected by the " Challenger," and especially illust


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Keywords: ., bookauthoruscoasta, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1888