84 Natural Theology. 



become islands for the abode of man. These little 

 animals, of varied form and of varied nature, are all 

 fitted to some condition of the ocean. The waters 

 bring them theii food and the materials of which 

 their reefs and islands are formed. Amidst the con- 

 stant rolling waves they find their appropriate home. 

 They have power to gather their food from the clear 

 waters, and, by the very law of their growth, to 

 chisel from the overburdened sea the invisible 

 blocks of which their Titanic masonry is composed. 

 What infinite skill was required to adjust all these 

 kinds to their appropriate places, and to fit them for 

 their appointed work ! 



Nearly allied to the coral builders are the jelly- 

 fishes, many of them apparently but little more than 

 vitalized water. But among them we find the same 

 perfection of adaptation. One floats through the 

 water by the gentle pulsations of its whole body, 

 another cuts it with hundreds of glistening cilia, 

 and others still float by air-sacs and are wafted by 

 the winds. Each has its own habits of life, and 

 each has a structure and mode of locomotion fitted 

 to its wants. The means are entirely different, but 

 they in each case secure the end in scuh a manner as 

 meets our approbation. We feel that all the adjust- 

 ments are complete, that the animal has been per- 

 fectly provided for. 



The starfish tribe would at first sight seem to be 

 most helpless. But one who has seen the Echinus 

 climbing smooth rocky walls with his delicate sucker 

 feet, or the starfish folded around the oyster or mus- 



