128 



HANDY BOOK OF MARTNE BOTANY 



The geographical distribution «f the plants and animals 

 found on land, is indubitably much more easily decided than 

 that of the denizens of the sea. The inquirer can mount 

 the loftiest mountains to the last trace of vegetation ; and, 

 far above these summits, his eye pierces the pure atmosphere, 

 in which the Condor soars in solitary majesty; he can 

 traverse the valleys, or, descending into the interior. of the 

 earth, even survey and collect fye subterranean flora ; but 

 he cannot walk over the submarine mt^dows or through the 

 thickets of the fucine forests ; he is not permitted to sink 

 into the depths of ocean. 



But, in spite of these natural obstacles, his investigating 

 mind, connected with his insatiable curiosity, has granted 

 him means to consult the abysses and their secrets, and 

 partly to raise the veil behind which the life of the sea is 

 hidden. Armed with the dredge, he filches from the bottom 

 of the sea Plants, Polypes, Molluscs, and Echino-dermata, 

 and learns the different provinces they select for their abode ; 

 or he lowers the line for hundreds, nay thousands of fathoms, 

 in order to draw up with it specimens of Corals and Shells. 



W, W. DEAD AND MARK, TBINTERS, FLEET LANE, OLD BAILBY, B.C. 



