Comments on Commonness. 233 



bays of Great Britain, where, after storms, it is 

 frequently thrown up in great numbers. The shell, or 

 test, denuded of its spines, like a shorn sheep, is con- 

 sequently very familiar to seaside visitors. Not un- 

 frequently also it is met with still clothed in its spiny 

 apparel. The reputation of a naturalist may then be 

 easily earned by any one who is able to observe, with 

 a supercilio.us or patronizing air, that it is only the 

 common heart-urchin, or still better, that it is the 

 Amphidotus qordatiiz of pennant. With this learned 

 information both the giver and receiver will in general 

 be thoroughly satisfied, and, insomuch as the creature 

 is so common, will not think it worthy of any more 

 notice. 



The men who advance science, however, regard 

 objects that are common in a different spirit from 

 this. Professor Huxley, in writing his book on the 

 Crayfish, desired, he tells us, " to sfrow how the careful 

 study of one of the commonest and most insignificant 

 of animals leads us, step by step, from every-day 

 knowledge to the widest generalizations and the most 

 difficult problems of zoology, and indeed of biological 

 science in general." 



The fact, it may be observed, that an animal or plant 

 has won for itself a position in many parts of the world, 

 and that its multitudes give it prominence, is a sign 

 that it must have some quality that favours it in the 

 battle of life, and its commonness, instead of making 

 it worthy of contempt, is rather a token that, in its 

 own field of competition, it has won the victory. 

 Further, the naturalist is well aware that almost any 

 one species of animal, however numerically common, 



