THE ROSSELLA VELATA. 25 



mind to the shallow coral-reefs of the Pacific, where the 

 water is warm, pure, and translucent, and where the hot 

 sunbeams evoke the most brilliant hues in the fishes 

 that dart through the water, as well as in the flowers 

 that blossom on the shore. 



Such is the locality in which man would have placed 

 them. But He who made them knows best where to 

 put them, and He knows that their right place is on 

 mud, out of sight of man, at enormous depths, in im- 

 penetrable darkness and freezing cold. It seems as if 

 we had been allowed to see these exquisite forms of 

 hidden life, in order to show us that these hitherto unex- 

 plored depths teem with living beauty, and that in 

 proportion as the sea gives up its treasures, we shall 

 discover new developments of life as unexpected and, if 

 possible, more beautiful than the glass-sponges which 

 have added so much to our knowledge, and shown so 

 plainly how much we have still to learn. 



