io THE FISHERIES OF THE ADRIATIC, 



shores of Nice, &c, &c, although partial researches have furnished a variety 

 of valuable information which constitutes an important instalment towards the 

 fulfilment of the more comprehensive task of an exhaustive work. Foremost 

 amongst such researches must be mentioned the able and painstaking work 

 of Dr. J. R. Lorenz 1 on the Ouarnero. 



These interesting investigations refer to the horizontal distribution of 

 animal and vegetable life in the Ouarnero, on the theory of Professor Forbes, 

 demonstrating that marine animals and plants have their zones of depth, just 

 as plants have their regions of altitude. 



As no systematic account of the horizontal distribution, or chorology, of 

 animal life in the Adriatic has yet been published, this must be considered a 

 most valuable contribution to the inquiries on the subject of its fauna, on 

 which subject so much remains to be done, and it may not be out of place 

 here to give a short account of the general results of this work as regards 

 the chorology in the Ouarnero. 



Dr. Lorenz has found the following distinct zones : — 



ZONE I. — The Super-Littoral Zone, characterised by the one very 

 poor species of Algae, Catcnella ; and the fauna facies, 3 Ligia Braudtii, 

 and other animals, which neither live in the water nor proceed more than 

 a few feet from the immediate border of the sea. 



ZONE II. — The Littoral Zone, divided into the Exposed Littoral 

 Zone, between high and low-water marks, and, when influenced by the 

 wind, two feet above, or i^foot below the normal tide-marks — altogether a 

 maximum range of 5^ feet. This is the region of green sea-weeds, charac- 

 terised by the Algse, Ulvcc (sloke plants), Eiiteromorpha, and Cladophora in 



1 " Physicalische Verhaltnisse und Vertheilung der Organismen im Quarnerischen Golfe." 

 Wien: 1863. 



2 Facies is the representative species of any particular zone, so that, as Professor Forbes 

 observes, the facies of the inhabitants of any given region of depth is so marked, that the 

 sight of a sufficient assemblage of them from some one locality can enable the naturalist to speak 

 at once to the soundings within certain limits, without the aid of line or plummet. 



