1852.] 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH SEAS. 



109 



numerous, and Iiappier, than tliey are now. They then had no 

 wars, and such troubles as they have now." 



The earhest French Missionaries found among the Indians, a 

 very few, but very rude and illy formed copper knives. But 

 there is no difBculty in distinguishing the implements of copper 

 which they had from those that are found in the aucient mounds 

 of Ohio. They are much more rude, and less perfect, in their 

 construction. One of these kni\'es may be seen figured by Mr. 

 Squier, on page 201, of the Smithsonian Contributions, vol. 1. 



The Indians knew of the existence of boulders or detached 

 masses of cojjper, and when they found small piieces of it in the 

 gravel, or on the pebble beach, they made use of the best skill 

 of which they were possessed to fashion it into some useful 

 implement. 



Mr. S. W. Hill, of Eagle Harbor, Lake Superior, informed me, 

 that in digging the foundation for a house at that place, at about 

 four (4) feet below the surface, in the water washed sand of the 

 Lake, there was found evidences of an attempt to melt by fire, 

 some pieces of copper from a neighboring vein. This was, 

 doubtless, the work of our Indians. 



Mr. Bailey, of the same place, described to me an instrument 

 of copper which he found in the gravel within Fort Williams, 

 that appeared to have been used either for skinning animals or 

 for dressing and working the skins. It resembled, somewhat, the 

 circular knife of a saddler, without its wooden handle. 



I have found in the soil or loose materials, pieces of native 

 copper, that with a little beating in a cold state, might be fash- 

 ioned into a rude knife or cutting instrument; and it is from such 

 masses that I conclude all the implements known to the Indians 

 were made. Those taken from the mounds of Ohio are much 

 more finished and entu-ely diflFerent in form. 



According to the relations of the Jesuit Missionaries, the 

 Indians often preserved pieces of pure copper, which they picked 

 up on the beech, as " manitous," or Gods, which they would not 

 have done had this metal been so common as the working of the 

 mines would make it. 



The conjecture that the Indians knew of and woi-ked the mines, 

 but concealed them from the French, is not very plausible. 



The entire length of the excavations now known, must be 25 

 or 30 miles, some of them on the coasts and navigable watei-s, 

 and not easily concealed. Althougli the Indians are reluctant to 

 disclose minerals to white men, they have done so in many cases 

 of copper masses, but never of veins or ancient mmes. They 

 would be as likely to do one as the other, if they knew of them. 

 But all of the ancient works yet explored, show that they have 

 been abandoned more than 500 years, and not only before the 

 French first heard the Indians speak of copper, but before Col- 

 umbus landed on the Continent. 



(To he continued.) 



The Natural History of the British Seas; By Prof. E. Forbes. 



The Natural History of the British Seas has for a long 

 time been a favorite subject of investigation. Within the last 

 fifteen years, however, fi'esh inquiries have been set on foot, and 

 the details of their zoology and botany worked out to an extent 

 beyond that to which the examination of any other marine pro- 

 vince has been carried. Numerous and beautiful illustrated 

 monographs, treating of their fishes, Cetacea, portions of the 

 Articulata, the Mollusca, Radiata, Zoophytes, Sponges, and Algse, 

 have been published, either at private cost, or by the patriotic 

 publishers, or by the Ray Society, such as the scientific Mterature 



of no other country can show. As these have all been the re- 

 sults of fresh and original research, they present a mass of valu- 

 able data suflicient to form a secure basis for important general- 

 izations. 



From these materials, and from the results of the inqui- 

 ries into the distribution of creatures in the depth of our seas, 

 conducted by a committee of the British Association, a clear 

 notion may be formed of the elements of which our submarine 

 population is corajjosed. Extensive tables, exhibiting tiie sub- 

 littoral distribution of marine invertebrata, from the South of 

 England along the Western coasts of Great Britain to Zetland, 

 mainly constructed from the joint observations of Professor E. 

 Forbes and Mr. MacAndrew, are now preparingfor publication, as 

 a first part of a general report from the committee refen-ed to. 

 The data embodied in these tables are the produce of researches 

 conducted during the last eleven years, and registered systemati- 

 cally at the time of observation. 



British marine animals and plants are distributed in depth (or 

 bathymetricallyj in a series of zones or regions which belt our 

 shores from high water mark down to the greatest depth explor- 

 ed. The uppermost of these is the tract between tidemarks ; this 

 is the Littoral Zone. Whatever be the extent of rise and fall of 

 the tide, this zone, wherever the ground is hard or rockj', thus 

 affording security for the growth of marine plants and animals, 

 presents similar features, and can be subdivided into a series of 

 con-esponding sub-regions ; through all of which the common 

 limpet [Patella vidgata) ranges, giving a character to the entire 

 belt. Each of these sub-regions has its own chai-acteristic ani- 

 mals and ptlants. Thus the highest is constantly characterized by 

 the presence of the periwinkle Littorina rudis, (and on our wes- 

 tern shores, Littorina neritoides,) along with the sea-weed Fucus 

 canaliadatus. The second sub-region is marked by the sea- 

 weed Lichina and the common mussel (Mytilus edulis.) In 

 common with the third sub-region it almost always p)resents rocks 

 thickly encrusted with barnacles ; so that where our shores are 

 steep, a broad white band, entirely composed of these shell-fish, 

 may be seen when the tide is out, marking the middle space so 

 conspicuously as to be visible from a great distance. In the third 

 sub-region the commonest form of wrack or kelp (Fucus articu- 

 latus) prevails, and the largest periwinkle (Littorina Vdtorea) 

 with the Purpura capillus are dominant and abundant. In the 

 fourth and lowest sub-region the Fucus just mentioned gives way 

 for another species, the Fucus serratus ; and in hke manner the 

 shells are replaced by a fresh Littorina (littoralis) and pecuhar 

 Trochi. 



Once below low-water mark the periwinkles become rare, or 

 disappear, and the Fuci are replaced by the gigantic sea-weeds 

 known popularly as tangles (species of Laminaria, Alaria, djc.,) 

 among which live myriads of peculiar forms of animals and lesser 

 plants. The genus Lacuna among shell-fish is especially charac- 

 teristic of this zone. In sandy places, the Zostera or grass-wrack 

 replaces the Laminaria The Laminarian Zone extends to a 

 depth of about fifteen fathoms, but in its lowest part the greater 

 sea-weeds are comparatively few, and usually the prevailing plant 

 is the curious coral-like vegetable called NuUipore. 



From 15 to 50 or more fathoms we find a zone pi-olific in 

 peculiar forms of animal life, but from which conspicuous vege- 

 tables seem almost entirel}' banished. The majority of its inha- 

 bitants are predacious. Many of our larger fishes belong to this 

 region, to which, on account of the plant-like zoophytes abound- 

 ing in it, the name of Coralline Zone has been applied. The 

 majority of the rarer shell-fish of our seas have been jjrocured 

 from this region. 



Below 50 fathoms is the region of deep-sea corals, so stjled 

 because hard and strong true corals of considerable dimensions 



