PREFACE. 
“ Our Planet is surrounded by two great oceans,” says Dr. Maury, 
the eminent American savant : “ the one visible, the other invisible ; 
one is under foot, the other over head. One entirely envelopes it, the 
other covers about two-thirds of its surface.” It is proposed in “ The 
Ocean Would” to give a brief record of the Natural History of one 
of those great oceans and its living inhabitants, with as little of the 
nomenclature of Science, and as few of the repulsive details of Ana- 
tomy, as is consistent with clearness of expression; to describe the 
ocean in its majestic calm and angry agitation ; to delineate its inha- 
bitants in their many metamorphoses : the cunning with which they 
attack or evade their enemies : their instructive industry : their 
quarrels, their combats, and their loves. 
The learned Schleiden eloquently paints the living wonders of the 
deep: “If we dive into the liquid crystal of the Indian Ocean, the 
most wondrous enchantments are opened to us, reminding us of the 
fairy tales of childhood’s dreams. The strangely-branching thickets 
bear living flowers. Dense masses of Meandrineas and Astreas con- 
trast with the leafy, cup shaped expansions of the Explanarias, and 
the variously-branching Madrepores, now spread out like fingers, now 
b 
