1 908-1909.] Some Characteristics of Sea-shore Fauna. 93 



\\,—BOME CHABACTEBISTICS OF THE FAUNA 

 OF THE SEASHORE. 



By Mr D. C. M'INTOSH, M.A., B.Sc. 

 {Read Nov. 25, 1908.) 



Just as the human inhabitants of each country may be said to 

 have typical features, which may be, and doubtless often are, 

 the result of environment, so also certain classes of sea-animals 

 are characteristic of certain localities. We have the clear- 

 skinned North European, the dark-complexioned inhabitants 

 of Southern Europe, the yellow races of the Far East, and the 

 dusky natives of Central Africa ; so in the world of the sea 

 we may expect to find distinct differences in the appearance of 

 animals typical of different sea areas. The genera may be the 

 same, but the species may be very different. To take another 

 illustration, we have plants that are characteristic of the sea- 

 side and of the wayside, of the marsh, the meadow, and the 

 moor, of the woodlands and the uplands, of the shingly places 

 by the stream and of the rocky places on the mountain side ; 

 so too we have sea-animals that are characteristic of the sea- 

 shore, of the area between high- and low-water, of the shallow 

 water round the coasts, of the deep and of the very deep sea. 

 Further, we have animals that love to dwell just above high- 

 water, others just below low-water mark, and there are still 

 others whose habitat is that area whose surface is twice daily 

 covered and uncovered by the tide. There are purely deep-sea 

 forms that never venture shorewards, and shallow-water forms 

 that never venture out into the deep. Some prefer rock-pools 

 or a sandy nook or a muddy bay ; others swim near the surface, 

 some crawl at the bottom, and so on, — it takes all kinds and 

 conditions to make a world. Note, then, how varied is the 

 distribution of animal life in the sea. 



. Animals have but two major requirements to fulfil — the 

 preservation of their own life and the perpetuation of their 

 race. The preservation of the individual life implies ceaseless 

 activity in two directions, in avoiding enemies and in nourish- 

 ing the body. Since the functions of circulation and of 



