122 PLUMULARIA CRISTATA. 



will number from five to six thousand. " Now," says 

 Dr. Johnston, "many such specimens, all united, too, by 

 a common fibre, and all 

 the offshoots of one com- 

 mon parent, are often lo- 

 cated on one sea-weed, the 

 site, then, of a population 

 which nor London nor 

 Pekin can rival. But PI. 

 cristata is a small species ; 

 and there are specimens of 

 PI. falcata, or Sertularia 

 argentea, of which the fa- 

 mily may consist of eighty 

 A T E T 3w^ AND MAas to one hundred thousand 



individuals. It is such 



calculations, always underrated, that illustrate the 'mag- 

 nalities of Nature,' and take us by surprise, leaving 

 us in wonderment at what may be the great object of 

 this her exuberant production of these ' insect millions 

 peopling every wave.' " * But, 



So He ordained, whose way is in the sea, 

 His path amidst great waters, and His steps 

 Unknown ; whose judgments are a mighty deep, 

 Where plummet of Archangel's intellect 

 Could never yet find soundings; but from age 

 To age let down, drawn up, then thrown again 

 With lengthened line and added weight, still fails ; 

 And still the cry in Heaven is, ' the depth ! 



MONTGOMERY. 



Johnston's Brit. Zoop. p. 93. 



