^^ THE NEW EVOLUTION 



This is presumably some organic substance chiefly 

 derived from the decayed remains of land plants. 

 Whatever it may be, if it is not essential at any rate 

 the oceanic plants grow much more luxuriantly if it 

 be present, exactly as many of the plants on land will 

 grow much better if they are well manured. 



Strange as it may seem, life in the sea is for the 

 greater part confined to the regions bordering the 

 shores of continents, though also abundant about 

 large mountainous and wooded islands such as those 

 of the Malayan archipelago. So we find all of the 

 important fisheries of the world situated in shallow 

 water near the land. Furthermore, these are all in 

 the northern hemisphere along the coasts of those 

 continents which have the greatest area exposed to 

 the action of the sun and rain and frost. 



With increasing distance from the land life in the 

 sea becomes progressively less and less abundant, and 

 toward the middle of the oceans, especially in the 

 southern hemisphere, it almost completely, perhaps 

 even entirely, disappears. Sea animals are largest and 

 most abundant on those shores which have a copious 

 rainfall, and especially on rugged and on cold coasts 

 where it may be assumed that material from the land 

 would reach the sea in the greatest quantity and 

 would remain unaltered for the longest time. 



M 



