THE MOUNT DESERT EEGIOISr 41 



One is struck also by the three forms which predominate and 

 impress themselves upon one's attention. The first are the 

 large masses of the common barnacle which covers the upper 

 zone from high tide down, and directly below them or near 

 half tide down to low-water mark hang the great clusters of 

 olive broMni rock weed, Fiicus nodosus. This beautiful weed, 

 which reaches its prime in August, either hangs from the rocks 

 or lies flat upon their surface when left by the tide, but is 

 floated up by means of its abundant air vessels when the tide 

 rises. Third is the lower zone of the mussel Mytilus edulis. 

 Nowhere are the three zoological zones of Balanus, Fucus, and 

 Mytilus more clearly marked. 



We know that certain places have certain depths, that in 

 some spots there is certain bottom, but it gives no real idea 

 of the bottom of the sea. Imagine an airship dropping a 

 dredge to the earth's surface and dragging it or a net across 

 the country, while below them a mass of clouds would hide the 

 earth and no one could see where the dredge was going. 

 Would such a history, based upon what the dredge would 

 bring up, give a true picture of animal life in detail? Of 

 course it would not, and yet by such methods alone do we 

 know anything of the ocean's floor and its inhabitants. It is 

 marvelous that we have learned so much, and what we do 

 know has been accomplished bit by bit by persons whose 

 interest has led them to carry on the work. For years the 

 United States Government carried on this work through the 

 Fish Commission, but of late years it has been stopped, and 

 what work has been done has been carried on by private indi- 

 viduals, but not along the Atlantic coast, for there is always 

 a romance connected with things far away from home. 



Moreover, a great many of the more active creatures are 

 apt to escape the slow-moving dredge, while others deep in 

 the crevices are passed over. It is therefore highly probable 

 that the animals we obtain by this method are no more repre- 

 sentative of all of the denizens of the deep than land animals 

 captured in the same way would be typical of the living crea- 

 tures which inhabit the earth. 



