144 MARINE ANIMAIS OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY. 



northern waters, one of the few modern Crinoids, and beside 

 these a number of Star-fishes, Sea-urchins, and Holothurians, not 

 differing so essentially from those already described as to require 

 special mention. 



Along the shore of Labrador and Newfoundland, the coast is 

 wholly rocky, and especially about Newfoundland it is deeply in- 

 dented with bays. Here there is ample opportunity for the 

 growth of certain kinds of animals in sheltered nooks. The 

 number of species is, however, much greater along the shores of 

 Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick than in Labrador, 

 owing ■ no doubt to the milder climate. The beautiful shore of 

 Maine, with its countless islands, and broken, picturesque outline, 

 is very rich in species. Parts of this coast are remarkable for a 

 variety of naked MoUusks, as well as for the great numbers of 

 bright-colored Actiniae, and also for the more brilliant kinds of 

 Holothurians, the Cuvieria, and the like. The latter are especially 

 abundant in the Bay of Fundy, and here also occurs the only 

 Northern representative on our coast of the Sear-fans or Gorgoniae, 

 so common on the shores of Florida. 



Farther south, from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, the character 

 of the coast changes ; it becomes more sandy, and though here 

 and there the aspect is varied by a rocky promontory or a stony 

 beach, yet the general character is flat and sandy. "With this 

 new character of the shore, the fauna is also greatly modified, and 

 it is worthy of remark, that while thus far the representative 

 species have reflected the character of animals to the north of 

 them, they now begin to represent rather those of the Carolina 

 shores. South of Cape Cod come in a kind of Scallop and Peri- 

 winkle, very different from the larger Scallops fomid on the coast 

 of Maine and the British Provinces ; our Sea-urchin is replaced 

 by the Bchinocidaris, with its few long spines, and an entirely new 

 set of Crustacea and Worms make their appearance on this more 

 sandy bottom. And here we must not forget that not only is the 

 aspect of the animal life changed, as we pass from a rock-bound 

 to a sandy coast, but that of the vegetation also. The various 

 many-tinted sea-weeds of the rocky shore disappear almost en- 

 tirely, and their place is but poorly supplied by the long eel- 

 grass, which is almost the only marine plant to be found in such 



