8 Life Beneath the Warns. 



no effort, generally speaking, is made to 

 excite similar desires for information with 

 regard to the denizens of our oceans and 

 rivers. 



And again, whilst facilities abound both in 

 public and private for rendering ourselves 

 familiar with, at any rate, the outward forms 

 of creatures which live on the earth, or in 

 the air, from the majestic Lion king, and 

 fierce sovereign of the feathered tribes, to 

 the insignificant field-mouse, and crawling 

 reptile, very few opportunities have 

 existed, up to the present time, for the ac- 

 quisition of a corresponding amount of 

 information respecting the living treasures 

 of the deep. 



The result of this state of things cannot, 

 to say the least, be deemed satisfactory; 

 for although in some cases " ignorance " 

 may be "bliss," the exceptions to this rule 



