MARINE BOTANY. 127 



more energetic nature, occupy a wide space on the surface of 

 the earth; they are found enjoying a healthy existence, 

 spread over entire hemispheres. Others, again, have to he 

 contented with their own home, and are not unfrequently 

 limited to a single bay, a single mountain slope. 



In this close mysterious connection between the producing 

 soil and its productions, is doubtlessly hidden a great part of 

 the magical charms of nature. Here all is harmony; we feel 

 it in our heart-of-hearts, and our eye rejoices at the union of 

 form and colour, as our ear does at the sound of fine music ; 

 and what creation of any human artist could be compared 

 with the pictures, whose endless, ever changing gallery the 

 Master of all worlds displays to us in every zone from Pole to 

 Pole I They pass away in a second ; but every minute brings 

 new ones never before seen. Fortunate is the man who, by 

 attentive loving observation, has gained a deeper insight of 

 their beauties ! To him every walk reveals sources of the 

 purest artistic enjoyment. 



The causes that attach animals and plants to certain locali- 

 ties are partially clear and patent to us. The warmness or 

 coldness of the sea, produced by currents, geographical posi- 

 tion and depth, quiet or troubled, pure or impure water, 

 abundant provision or the want of it, the fineness or softness 

 of the soil, sufficiently explain, in many cases, why various 

 genera of marine creatures are here found in large numbers, 

 or there are entirely absent. A glance at their structure 

 teaches us sometimes the physical qualities which their 

 residence must necessarily possess. We see at once if an 

 Alga requires the protection of an unruffled calm or can defy 

 the storm ; if it is found to anchor on the rocks, or to sink 

 its roots into a yielding soil. Many a Mollusc can only 

 breathe in the purest water, or requires hard stone, to which 

 it attaches itself. In other soft-bodied tribes, on the other 

 hand, the respiratory organs are protected against the admis- 

 sion of shifting land, and permit them to hide from their 

 foes in the mud. 



