34-1 Submarine Architecture. 



(Bowerbank) and Halichondrice of species not determinable. 

 Above these rise the conspicuous and characteristic shells of 

 the Balanidce, and these last mix and intermix in all directions 

 as foundations and superpositions, but there is not one of the 

 Lepadidce to be found anywhere. The process of the super- 

 structure appears then to be very much according to the order 

 of the several creatures comprised in the colony ; the lowest 

 and the meanest, the Polyzoa, begin the work, the Cirripedes 

 continue it, and the nobler Annelids and Mollusks take pos- 

 session when the slippery surface has been roughened and the 

 foundations of the city laid by their humbler predecessors. 

 The proper elevation of the Barnacles to companionship with the 

 Crustaceans proper, by Darwin, has a very pretty confirmation 

 in the free and easy way in which they take possession of all 

 sites, build anywhere, now on a foundation crust of true polyzoa, 

 and now on the worn surface of an oyster, cockle, or whelk shell. 

 There would be an end of the story, but we have yet to account 

 for the attachment of the two mollusks last named in the short 

 description of the species constituting this pretty colony. We 

 know pretty well how serpuke and oysters anchor themselves. 

 Creatures capable of manufacturing calcareous shells from sea- 

 water can have little trouble in attaching them, and they appear 

 to wait, before taking possession of a slippery substance, until the 

 pioneers of marine colonization have prepared the foundation of 

 the city. But how comes a whelk or a scallop to be mixed up 

 with a mass of oysters, serpulas, and barnacles, and to be 

 cemented to the base of this bottle. It would be a greater 

 puzzle were they found anywhere but at the base, but as they are 

 at the base only we can easily imagine an old shell which has 

 drifted about for years at the sea bottom coming at last in con- 

 tact with the bottle and being involved in a busy mass of tube- 

 forming annelids, getting involved in the cementing process, 

 and so with them becoming attached. Is it possible the 

 Cardium was dragged there by a hermit crab, then involved in 

 the process of cementing by a young colony of serpulas, and 

 the hermit thereby compelled to quit for fear of being buried 

 alive in his own habitation ! 



After all this Emilius is not satisfied. He has been testing 

 our observations by experiences of his own in soundings for 

 the Atlantic telegraph, and he detects, moreover, a few flaws 

 in our reasoning. He says the Cardium is so cemented that he 

 cannot understand how it should have become attached during 

 the life of the animal. Would it, for instance, he says, be such 

 a fool as to remain immoveable while a colony of tube-forming 

 annelids laid their foundations, and. fixed him secure for ever 

 like a new Prometheus ? No ; both the Cardium and the 

 Buccinum were surely lying untenanted on the sea-bottom 



