CHAPTER V. 



THE ROCKY SEA-SHORE : MARINE ANIMALS. 



IN the vegetation of the sea, Nature has provided both 

 shelter and food for an infinitude of animals. Were we 

 to speak of the uses of sea-weeds, and confine ourselves 

 to their adaptation to the wants of man, we should 

 much misinterpret the office which this portion of the 

 vegetable world discharges in the general economy. 

 However great their uses to man, these are absolutely 

 insignificant in comparison to those benefits for which 

 the lower tribes of animated nature are indebted to the 

 sea-weeds. Troop after troop of animals, one more 

 highly organized than another, either derives its nou- 

 rishment from the sea-weed itself, or uses the subma- 

 rine forest as a hunting-ground, where it fulfils the 



