CONCLUSIONARY REFLECTIONS. 289 



Having concluded these remarks,. I may, in terminating 

 ray zoological description of the oceanic inhabitants of the 

 Arctic Regions, not inappropriately quote the eloquent 

 language of Professor Lyall* on this subject; he observes 

 that " the ocean teems with life — the class of polypi alone 

 are conjectured by Lamarck to be as strong individuals as 

 insects. Every tropical reef is described as bristling with 

 corals, budding with sponges, and swarming with Crustacea, 

 echini, and testacea, whilst almost every tide-washed rock is 

 carpeted with fuci, and studded with cor alines, actiniae, and 

 molluscce. There are innumerable forms in the seas of the 

 warmer zones, which have scarcely begun to attract the 

 attention of the naturalist ; and there are parasitic animals 

 without number, three or four of which are sometimes ap- 

 propriated to one genus, as to the Balse'na, for example. 

 Even though we concede, therefore, that the geographical 

 range of marine species is more extensive in general than 

 that of the terrestrial (the temperature of the sea being more 

 uniform, and the land impeding less the migrations of the 

 oceanic than the ocean of the terrestrial), yet we think it 

 most probable that the aquatic species far exceed in number 

 the inhabitants of the land. Without insisting on this point, 

 we may safely assume, as we before stated, that, exclusive 

 of microscopic beings, there are between one and two 

 million of species now inhabiting the terraqueous globe ; so 

 that if only one of these were to become extinct annually, 

 and one new were to be every year called into being, more 

 than a million of years would be required to bring about a 

 complete revolution in organic life." 



CONCLUSIONARY REFLECTIONS. 



I have now brought to a conclusion my description of the 

 inhabitants of the Northern Seas; and whether we consider 

 them in a philosophic or commercial point of view, yet to 

 the reflective mind I believe I have pourtrayed sufficient 



Of King's College, London. 

 u 



