6 Coral Animals in the 



animals in the sea around the island of Anticosti. The 

 species are probably far from numerous, and their opera- 

 tions insignificant, when compared with the labours of 

 similar though infinitely more numerous tribes in tropical 

 seas. Yet every thing relating to a department of Natural 

 History, as yet only imperfectly known, must be interesting, 

 and I am not aware that any one has before noticed the 

 existence of corals in the Gulf of St. Lawi-ence. 



I cannot conclude these x'emarks without communicating 

 to the society, those reflections which have been forced 

 upon my mind by the consideration of the foregoing facts. — 

 Geology teaches us that the numerous fossil corals and 

 remains of testaceous animals found in the limestone strata 

 must have lived and died in ancient seas. These once sub- 

 marine strata have been laid bare either by the recession of 

 the primeval ocean, or have been upheaved by a force from 

 beneath, which has formed our present continents and 

 islands at some extremely remote period, probably antece- 

 dent to the creation of man. 



Turning from the consideration of the past, to that of the 

 present, do we not perceive that numerous tribes of coral 

 animals are still existing in our present ocean — that 

 numerous tribes of testacea and Crustacea still live and die 

 in it ; all of which contribute to create, or collect together 

 an immense quantity of calcareous matter ? The rivers, 

 too, constantly carry down to the ocean great (juantities of 

 the various carihs, which are for a time held in suspension, 

 and finally deposited at the bottom of our seas. Similar 

 causes are therfore still at work. New strata are imper- 

 ceptibly forming, and it appears to be no extravagant 

 supposition, that they may hereafter be destined for the 

 support of vegetable or animal life, or even that the various 



