THE COEALLINE ZOKE 413 



in form and colouring, abound. Where none of these are 

 very plentiful, we often find the coral-weed or nullipore in 

 vast quantities, and assuming many strange modifications of 

 form. Among these vegetable corals numbers of shells and 

 articulate animals delight to live, and probably not a few feed 

 upon their stony fronds. The Lima, a shellfish related to the 

 scallop, gathers the broken branches by means of prehensile 

 tentacles, and constructs for itself a comfortable nest lined with 

 a woven cloth of byssal threads. Numerous fishes resort to 

 these rugged pastures in order to deposit their spawn among 

 the gnarled branch! ets." 



To the laminarian, succeeds the coralVme zone, extending 

 in most places some thirty fathoms or more. Plants, indeed, 

 are rare, but here the horny plant-like sertularias love to rear 

 their graceful feathery branches, and form miniature gardens of 

 fairy-like delicacy and beauty; and here, car- 

 nivorous mollusks, whelks above all, prowl in 

 great numbers. Bivalves of remarkable elegance, 

 especially clams and scallops, are found buried 

 in multitudes beneath its gravels and muddy 

 sands ; and no less plentifully congregate the 

 spider-crabs, with many other peculiar crusta- 

 ceans. As a natural consequence of this well- 

 furnished table, fishes abound, and many of 

 our deep sea and white fisheries owe their value wheik. 



to the zoological features of the coralline zone. 



Last and lowest of our regions of submarine existence is that 

 of deep-sea corals, so named on account of the great stony 

 zoophytes characteristic of it in the oceanic seas of Europe. 

 Many sea-stars and sea-urchins are likewise found in this region, 

 in the depths of which the number of peculiar creatures is few, 

 yet sufficient to give it a marked character. 



