222 Natural History of Molluscotis Atiimals : — 



the bed of the wide ocean extensive beds of oysters, clams, 

 muscles, &c., containing millions of individuals, which are 

 hourly devouring, each of them, crowds of animalcules (em- 

 bracing in the terra the infusory, microscopic, crustaceous 

 and gelatinous medusae), which, from their vast numbers and 

 rapid reproduction, never fail them. At some seasons 

 of the year I have seen the waters of our shores literally 

 in a move with Entomostraca ; and I am fully satisfied 

 that, when Scoresby calculated a cubical mile to contain 

 23,888,000,000,000,000, he was not exaggerating the actual 

 fact. * In one family of bivalves furnished with a byssus, we 

 frequently find entangled amid its fibres, or concealed within 

 the valves, one or more small crabs (Pinnoteres), of which 

 the older naturalists, who never left an observation to stand, 

 like truth, all naked, but ever clothed it with some pretty 

 vestment, tell us a tale not to be passed over in this place, 

 and which I present you in the words of Dr. Philemon Hol- 

 land, the laborious translator of Pliny. " The Nacre, also 

 called Pinnae, is of the kind of shell fishes. It is alwaies 

 found and caught in muddie places, but never without a 

 companion, which they cal Pinnoter, or Pinnophylax. And 

 it is no other but a little shrimpe, or, in some places, the 

 smallest crab, which beareth the Nacre companie, and waites 

 vpon him for to get some victuals. The nature of the Nacre 

 is to gape wide, and sheweth vnto the little fishes her seelie 

 body, without any eie at all. They come leaping by & by 

 close vnto her; and seeing they haue good leaue, grow so 

 bardie & bold, as to skip into her shel and fill it ful. The 



• " The number of medusae in the olive-green sea was found to be im- 

 mense. They were about one fourth of an inch asunder. In this propor- 

 tion, a cubic inch of water must contain 64; a cubic foot, 110,392; a 

 cubic fathom, 23,887,872; and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000! 

 From soundings made in the situation where these animals were found, it 

 is probable the sea is upwards of a mile in depth ; but whether these sub- 

 stances occup3' the whole depth is uncertain. Provided, however, the 

 depth to which they extend be but 250 fathoms, the above unmense number 

 of one species may occur in a space of two miles square. It may give a 

 better conception of the amount of medusae in this extent, if we calculate 

 the length of time that would be requisite, with a certain number of persons, 

 for counting this number. Allowing that one person could count 1,000,000 

 in seven days, which is barely possible, it would have required that 80,000 

 persons should have started at the creation of the world, to complete the 

 enumeration at the present time! — What a stupendous idea this 4ct gives 

 of the immensity of creation, and of the bounty of Divine Providence, in 

 furnishing such a profusion of life in a region so remote from the habitations 

 of men ! But if the number of animals in a space of two miles square be 

 so great, what must be the amount requisite for the discoloration of the sea, 

 through an extent of perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 square miles ! " ( Scoresby's 

 Arctic RegionSy vol.i. p. 179.) 



