132 



MEDITERRANEAN PROVINCE. 



be connected with the configuration of the adjacent 

 land, as was long since shown with reference to the 

 island of Sardinia. On the coast of Nice, wherever 

 the surface rises gently landwards, it will be found 

 that the sea-bed is continued with a corresponding 

 slope downwards, as off Ventimiglia ; whereas in 

 places where high lands come down to the coast, as 

 from Monaco to Mentoni, the depths are great — 

 immediately off Villafranca there is as much as 

 200 fathoms water. 



In addition to these inequalities, which, it will be 

 shown, have an important bearing on the character 

 of the Mediterranean fauna, there is another 

 physical feature which has to be noticed, inasmuch 

 as it has been considered that it has exercised some 

 influence on the distribution of that fauna. A 

 submarine ridge extends from the south-western 

 extremity of Sicily to the advancing headland of 

 Tunis on the opposite coast of Africa, along which 

 there is scarcely more than thirty fathoms water, 

 so that the Mediterranean depression is made up of 

 two great basins — an Eastern and a Western. 



Commencing with those low forms of life which 

 have so long occupied debatable ground between 

 the animal and vegetable worlds, we find the "Sponge 

 tribe" forming a very characteristic portion of the 

 Mediterranean products. "Sponges," says Ed. 

 Forbes, " are abundant in the Lycian seas. The 

 more valued kinds are sought for about the gulf 

 of Macri, along the Carian coast, and the opposite 



