DISTRIBUTION OP LIFE IN THE OCEAN. 145 



a locality. Beside its more sandy character, the coast from Cape 

 Cod to Cape Hatteras is affected by the large amount of fresh 

 water poured into the sea along its whole line, greatly modifying 

 the character of the shore animals. The Hudson, the Delaware, 

 the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the James, the Roanoke, and the 

 large estuaries connected with some of these rivers, give a very 

 peculiar character to the shore, and bring down, not only a vast 

 supply of fresh water, but also a large quantity of detritus of all 

 sorts from the land. Under these circumstances life would be 

 impossible for many of the animals which live farther north. 

 The only locality on the North Atlantic shore, where the condi- 

 tions are somewhat similar, is at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, 

 that great drainage-bed through which the Canadian lakes empty 

 their superfluous waters into the Gtdf of St. Lawrence. 



The whole coast of the Carolinas, from Cape Hatteras to 

 Florida, is a sandy beach ; but though in this respect it resembles 

 that immediately to the north of it, it differs greatly in other 

 features. Comparatively little fresh water is poured into the 

 ocean along this shore, and its more southerly range, instead 

 of being protected by sand-spits like Pamlico and Albemarle 

 Sounds, or broken by estuaries and inlets like the coast of Vir- 

 ginia, lies broadly open to the sea. On its extensive beaches 

 we have the large Pholas, burrowing deep below the surface, 

 and the Cerianthus, those long, cylindrical Actiniae, enclosed in 

 sheaths, with their bright crowns of gayly-colored tentacles ; the 

 free colonies of Halcyonoids abound also on this coast, and a new 

 set of Sear-urchins (Spatangoids and Clypeastroids) make their 

 appearance. 



Farther south, along the Florida coast, a new element comes 

 in, that of the coral reefs, enclosing shallow channels near the 

 shore, and thus providing sheltered harbors on their leeward side, 

 while on their seaward side they slope steeply to the ocean. Be- 

 side this, the reef itself affords a home for a great variety of 

 creatures, who bore their way into it and live in its recesses, as 

 some insects live in the bark of trees. Perhaps a more favor- 

 able combination of circumstances &r the development of marine 

 life does not exist anywhere than about the coral reefs of 

 Florida, and certainly nowhere is there a more rich and varied 



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