SOUTHERN EUROPE. — MARINE ANIMALS. 39 
same may be said, but in a less degree, of the tunny 
fisheries of Sicily. The herring and the pilchard, on 
the other hand, are scarcely known. The coast of Nice 
has been ably investigated, and its productions de- 
scribed by Risso. Of more than i150 species of 
fish minutely examined by us on the coasts of Sicily, 
we believe that not more than one third belong also to 
the ichthyology of Britain and Northern Europe. The 
only one of these new species we have yet described is the 
Ammodytes Siculus Sw.*, or Sicilian sandlance ; a local 
species, but found in such vast shoals, as to supply, at 
particular seasons, all the inhabitants of Messina with a 
plentiful meal. This fish is highly prized for its delicious 
flavour. 
(54.) The radiated Mollusca (Radiata) of these 
coasts are very numerous. The many harbours, caves, 
and submerged rocks, sheltered from those violent com- 
motions which agitate the Atlantic Ocean, afford them 
protection, and contribute to their rapid increase. 
Their investigation, hitherto much neglected, offers 
a most. interesting field for those naturalists who 
can study them in their native seas. Along the rocky 
shores of Sicily, but especially those of Malta, many 
species of sea anemone, and other animal flowers, stud 
the bottoms of the deep caves ; while the purple Echini 
occur in great profusion in similar situations. The 
stillness and the transparency of the water are such, that 
all these may be seen with perfect clearness ata depth of 
eight or ten feet. The tubular and cellular polypes, 
whose habitations are commonly called corals and coral- 
lines, are more abundant in the Bay of Naples; which, 
with the coasts of Sicily, has long been celebrated for 
the abundance of the true red coral. 
* Zoological Ill. i. pl. 63. 
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