102 



CELTIC PROVINCE. 



interval. But deep-sea dredging is at all times a 

 difficult operation, and amid the roll of the Atlan- 

 tic demands a good boat, plenty of zeal and leisure, 

 unusually fine weather, and a strong stomach for 

 its successful execution. 



The aspect of the Celtic fauna is peculiar and 

 modest. The shapes of its constituents of different 

 tribes for the most part are but slightly diversified 

 by eccentricities, and their hues seldom glaring 

 or even vivid. The smaller kinds of sponges are 

 not unfrequently brilliantly dyed, especially a few 

 species of vermilion or golden yellow hue, but the 

 more conspicuous kinds are tawny or brownish. 

 The sea-anemones are elegantly variegated with rich 

 colours, but the majority of zoophytes are not 

 strikingly tinted. The Starfishes, as a group, are 

 most remarkable among the invertebrata for gor- 

 geous painting, but our other echinoderms are 

 sombre when compared with their relatives from 

 warmer seas. The sea-jellies are occasionally 

 tinged with delicate hues, and some of the smaller 

 kinds even showily ornamented; but those which 

 make most figure in our waters are not conspicu- 

 ous on account of colour, however elegant in their 

 contours. Taken as a class, our mollusks are like 

 the men and women of the lands around their habi- 

 tations, very neatly but not gorgeously attired. 

 The patterns of their shells, though often pretty, are 

 not gaudy or attractive, except in rare instances. 

 The same may be said, with slightly lesser truths 



