SEA-MEADOWS 93 



tons of fishes off their coasts in 1915, which is more 

 than twice the total export of eggs from the country. 

 And fishes have not to be fed in the same sense as 

 poultry. The question arises, however, whether 

 the system of interrelations established in the sea 

 cannot be improved so as to yield a smaller number 

 of useless and a larger number of useful animals. 

 An interesting question indeed, but no naturalist 

 who realizes the implications of " the web of life " 

 will be in a hurry to do more than experiment on a 

 small scale. The balance of nature is not to be 

 tampered with impetuously. 



Utilitarian considerations apart, the sea-meadows 

 are of great scientific interest. In his Voyage of 

 the "Beagle," Darwin was impressed by the Kelp 

 (Macrocystis pyrifera) and its animal associates. 

 He writes : " The number of living creatures of 

 all orders whose existence intimately depends on 

 the Kelp is wonderful. A great volume might be 

 written describing the inhabitants of one of these 

 beds of seaweed. ... I can only compare these 

 aquatic forests of the Southern Hemisphere with the 

 terrestrial ones in the inter-tropical region. Yet if 

 in any country a forest was destroyed, I do not be- 

 lieve nearly so many species of animals would perish 

 as would here, from the destruction of the Kelp." 



The succession of incarnations from sea-grass 

 to fisherman gives one a vivid impression of the 

 universal flux; there is a fascinating variety of ani- 

 mal-communities Professor Petersen distinguishes 

 eight distinctive associations, each with an economic 



