188 THE AQUARIAN NATURALIST. 



" To see where system into system runs, 

 Where other planets circle other suns ;" 



who feelingly, but, even then, inadequately, can 

 understand the value of the words and the truthfulness 

 of their import. 



It is easy for any one to acknowledge in general 

 terms the power of the Creator, and to allow that His 

 providence is over all His works ; but it is the micro- 

 scopist only, who, by reversing the Galilean tube, is 

 enabled to explore nature in the opposite direction, 

 to penetrate beyond our unassisted vision, and survey 

 the worlds contained within the boundaries of a drop 

 of water, can tell how deeply that Providence ex- 

 tends, how awful that Almighty power, who " spake 

 and it was done, who commanded and it stood fast." 



If the heavens have their stars, so has the sea. 

 " Non coelo tantum sed et mari suae stellae sunt, opera 

 quidem unius Dei artificis sed diversae prorsus fabricae 

 et naturae. Ccelestes ubique locorum vulgus conspicit, 

 marinas ne physicorum quidem omnes intuentur." 



The Asterophyton, or Shetland Argus, called also 

 the Medusa's head (PI. III. fig. 10), is occasionally met 

 with on our northern coasts. " As he swims/' says 

 Grew*, " he spreads and stretches out all his branches 

 to their full length, and, as soon as he perceives his 

 prey within his reach, he hooks them all in, and takes 

 it, as it were, in a net," a description which perhaps 

 some of our readers may think to be rather too quaint 

 and laconic for an animal so strange and so remark- 

 able, and upon which we shall, we hope, be pardoned if 

 we amplify a little. Or perhaps the following account, 

 * Vide Account of the Museum of the Royal Society. 



