88 



CELTIC PROVINCE. 



chiefly carnivorous, and apt to live immersed in 

 mud. When covered by shells, these are not re- 

 markable for thickness. Hermit-crabs and spider- 

 crabs are here; sea-mice (Aphrodite); large sea- 

 worms j whelks (Buccinum undatum and Fusus 

 antiquus) in abundance with Aporrkais, screw-shells 

 and tooth-shells, quantities of Leda rostrata, also 

 Cyprina islandica and Hiatella arctica. Sea-pens 

 are also found here. 



The scanty fauna of the Baltic is too decidedly 

 Celtic to be regarded either as belonging to a sepa- 

 rate province or to the Boreal region. The number 

 of fishes of this sea, enumerated by Mllson, is under 

 thirty. Several of these only range far through the 

 southern portion of the Baltic, and none among 

 them is peculiar to it. The herring is remarkable 

 for presenting some peculiarities, and that of the 

 northern half has been distinguished from that found 

 in the southern part. These have been regarded 

 as distinct from Clupea harengus by some ichthy- 

 ologists, who have designated the former Clupea 

 membras, and the latter Clupea Cimbrica: they 

 seem, however, to be only slight varieties, due to the 

 influence of peculiarities in the degree of freshness 

 of the waters. The sprat occurs. The gar -pike fre- 

 quents the southern district, and the fresh-water 

 pike occasionally takes to the brackish waters ; an 

 important fact, when we consider the wide circum- 

 polar distribution of this fish. Two or three mem- 

 bers of the cod tribe make their way to greater or 



