THE WONDEES OF THE SHORE. 39 



believe it ; for in science, as in liiglier matters, he 

 who will walk surely, must " walk by faith and not 

 by sight." 



These are but a few of the wonders which the 

 classification of marine animals affords ; and only 

 drawn from one class of them, though almost as 

 common among every other family of that submarine 

 world whereof Spenser sang — 



" Oli, what an endless work have I in hand, 



To count the sea's abundant progeny ! 

 Whose fruitful seed far passeth those in land, 



And also those which won in th' azure sky. 



For much more earth to tell the stars on high, 

 Albe they endless seem in estimation. 



Than to recount the sea's posterity ; 

 So fertile be the flouds in generation, 

 So huge their numbers, and so numberless their nation." 



But these few examples will be sufficient to 

 account both for the slow pace at which the know- 

 ledge of sea-animals has progressed, and for the 

 allurement which men of the highest attainments 

 have found, and still find in it. And when to this 

 we add the marvels which meet us at every step in 

 the anatomy and the reproduction of these creatures, 

 and in the chemical and mechanical functions which 



