OCEAN GARDENS; 



and organization of the sliell-bearing Molluscs ; and, 

 with this feeling, I may direct the attention to seve- 

 ral of their singular characteristics, in order that 

 they may serve as clues to the detection of others. 



The term Mollusc, from mollis^ soft, is intended to 

 express that the whole class are invertebrate ; that is, 

 entirely without spine, or any bony support to their 

 curious fleshy forms. The term v/as invented by 

 the illustrious Cuvier, but is objectionable as a dis- 

 tinctive one, the characteristic on which it is founded 

 being shared by other distinct classes of animals. 

 When, however, the application of a term is well 

 understood, its inner signification becomes unim- 

 portant ; it is, therefore, now too late to criticise the 

 one invented and applied by the prince of modern 

 naturalists. 



Among the interesting facts detected by recent 

 science, it has been shown that many of the seem- 

 ingly shapeless masses of soft substance, scarcely to 

 be termed flesh, possess all the senses of the higher 

 animals. In the Cephalopoda^ the organs of sight 

 and hearing are both well developed ; and Professor 

 Owen considers that the Nautilus possesses even 

 an organ of passive smell. The Gasteropoda too, 

 are, according to Siebold, nearly all furnished with 

 ears and eyes, the former organs being described 



66 



