PROF. EDWARD FORBES AS A ZOOLOGIST 55 



on each living type." He further argues that the relationship 

 of all the individuals of any species to each other exhibits 

 the phenomena of descent. Yet the species may be 

 extinguished in its original centre, and exist only in certain 

 portions of the area over which it became diffused, thus 

 bringing into play an inquiry into the geological changes. 

 " Palaeontological research exhibits beyond question the 

 phenomenon of provinces in time, as well as provinces in 

 space." These and other disquisitions make the introductory 

 remarks to his volume of the deepest interest, for no other 

 naturalist of his day had seen more of the ocean and its 

 inhabitants than this brilliant writer and keen observer. 

 That part of the volume which he penned teems with the 

 experienced remarks of a master, and for half a century 

 was the source of much information on the subject. He 

 showed that the distribution of marine animals is primarily 

 determined by the influence of temperature, the composition 

 of the water, its depth — in which pressure and the diminution 

 of light are likewise important factors. He was familiar 

 with the effects of the outline of the coast, the nature of the 

 sea-bottom, and the currents. He mapped out the facies of 

 the littoral, laminarian, coralline and deep-sea coral zones, so 

 that ever since naturalists have respected these delimitations, 

 founded, it is true, on the observations of CEersted and others 

 as well as his own investigations. 



The six centres of creation shared, as he thought, by the 

 European seas, consisted of the Arctic, the Boreal, the 

 Celtic, the Lusitanian, the Mediterranean, and the Black 

 Sea Provinces. The facile pen of the accomplished writer had 

 time to deal only with the first four of these when he was 

 prematurely cut off; yet in these four chapters Forbes 

 exhibits a thorough acquaintance with marine life and the 

 problems connected with it, and, according to the data then 

 available, clearly signalises each province. The researches 

 of recent times do not greatly alter the conclusions Forbes 

 drew, though they have extended the distribution of various 

 types and broadened all our views of marine life. The 

 colours of the provinces of his period have been toned to 

 some extent, yet retain the hues he gave them, for much of 



