169 
THE GEELONG NATURALIST. i 249 
We are accustomed to look upon the sea and its inhabitants 
with eyes somewhat closed; for the want of knowledge, conceiving 
of it as one great kingdom inhabited by various tribes differing in 
their several characteristics but little one from another. This 
notion represents the case very roughly indeed. The dredge proves 
that the distribution of marine life is similar to the distribution of 
terrestrial life into specific provinces whose limits are determined 
by definite and readily recognisable natural conditions. These 
conditions are reproduced with a similarly minute attention to 
detail in the submarine world, where as on land, certain districts 
are peopled with peculiar genera and species. Parallels of latitude 
are eq uivalent to regions of elevation—this we notice even 1n dredg- 
ing in our bay; for example we might as well look for an Echino 
cardium at high water mark, as a cockle at 300 fathoms. 
Then again we have the effects of the two great influences, 
temperature and depth, this is very clearly illustrated when dredging ; 
take our own bay again, we find the greatest varieties of animals in 
comparatively shallow water say from 8 to 6 feet and the greatest 
brilliancy of colour in animal and vegetable life. Moderate warmth 
and shallowness are necessary for the production of bright colours 
or an abundance of the denizens of the submarine world. 
With all sail set and a good breeze we headed for home and 
reached our anchorage in safety. 
THE STAPLE INDUSTRIES OF VICTORIA. 
Lecture delivered before the Geelong Field Naturalist Club, 
June 5th, 1896. 
Tux lecture delivered by Mr Jas. Stirling, the Government geologist, 
on “The Staple Industries of Vietoria—Coal and Gold," at the 
Gordon College last evening, in connection with the Geelong Field 
Naturalists’ Club, was largely attended by members and the general 
publie. The lecture was most instructive and interesting, and the 
effects given to the many different illustrations by means of the 
limelight apparatus, whieh was worked by Messrs Geo. Brinsmead 
and W. Humble, added an additional charm to the lecturer's 
pertinent remarks. The lecture was prefaced by an explanation 
respecting the characters of the gold reefs, and the areas of coal 
and gold existing throughout the colony, and reference was made 
to the depths at which gold bearing veins had been discovered, when 
the Lansell's mine, at Bendigo, was singled out as being one of the 
deepest in the colony, and it was prophesied that Bendigo would be 
a gold yielding district for centuries to come. The methods of 
securing the gold from the earth were traced from their earliest 
primitive stages, and views exhibited of the means adopted from 
the very old style puddling and cradling machines up to those of 
