10
,
FALLACIES AS TO MAKING OCEAN BARREN.
-
'
In this connection the notion which places on the trawl the
_.
onus of removing the food of the shes by rendering the bottom
_
,
may briey be alluded to. Where, when, and how this
barrenness has been found is not stated, but its results are said
;
to be.as disastr0us to the shes as the destruction of the grass
_
_
in an enémy’s country would be to the ocks and herds. Such
'
,
writers appear
to
be unaware of the vast abundance and '
_
variety of pelagic beings—from shes to plants—whichowù
_
__
relationship neither to the bottom nor to the locality, but are
swept hither and thither to nourish, with cosmopolitan liber— _
ality, the shes of our own and the neighbouring shores. They
,
have overlooked the wealth of life in the sand and mud, which ‘
'
‘
no trawl can seriously disturb.
N o barren area of this nature
in the open sea is known to us, and a consideration of the
'
forces of nature in the sea would show that its barrenness if not
wholly hypothetical would be short-lived.
A trawl that would
__
simultaneously remove the contents of the water from surface
to bottom, sweep the loose =forms on the latter as well as those
_
deeply immersed in it-——has yet to be invented.
/
'
_
return from this digression, we observe in other mem—
'
_
bers of the sub—kihgdomthe same remarkable recuperation and
,
*
persistence.
Though along a limited line of beach the larger
anemohés, a valued hait for cod, may be removed by the
shermen almost entirely from the tidal rocks, yet the, same
species ourishès in thè-neighbouring and deè>per waters, and
_
sooner
or
later the blanks are obliterated.
Theother large
’
forms in deep water are in no danger, and even crushing under
_
foot on the deck of a ship does not always destroy them, fOr
—
each piece becomes
independent animal. It is stated that
'
in one ,of,the West Indian Islands a proprietor, wishing to
extirpate a colony of gorgeous anemonesl, which attræicted
1 By the kindnessof Mr J. _E. Duerden, Curat0r of the Museum of the
Institute
of Jamaica, Iam able to identify this form with Coqzdylaatis passio7'a,
Buch. and Mich, a gorgeo_usly 0010ured anemone.
Its column, incapable.of
retraction‘, is bright scarlet or orange,
diffuse or in gr'anulation5, while
_
distally it is b,l‘ownish red, The long adhesive and somewhat thick tentacles,
Whî0h WéWe gracefülly, are also incapable of complete retraction, and are dark
_
brown with minute white granulations,_whe thé tips afg bright purple 01“
greemsh—yeow, or in partial collapse rich iridescent green.
-
'
l
,
FALLACIES AS TO MAKING OCEAN BARREN.
-
'
In this connection the notion which places on the trawl the
_.
onus of removing the food of the shes by rendering the bottom
_
,
may briey be alluded to. Where, when, and how this
barrenness has been found is not stated, but its results are said
;
to be.as disastr0us to the shes as the destruction of the grass
_
_
in an enémy’s country would be to the ocks and herds. Such
'
,
writers appear
to
be unaware of the vast abundance and '
_
variety of pelagic beings—from shes to plants—whichowù
_
__
relationship neither to the bottom nor to the locality, but are
swept hither and thither to nourish, with cosmopolitan liber— _
ality, the shes of our own and the neighbouring shores. They
,
have overlooked the wealth of life in the sand and mud, which ‘
'
‘
no trawl can seriously disturb.
N o barren area of this nature
in the open sea is known to us, and a consideration of the
'
forces of nature in the sea would show that its barrenness if not
wholly hypothetical would be short-lived.
A trawl that would
__
simultaneously remove the contents of the water from surface
to bottom, sweep the loose =forms on the latter as well as those
_
deeply immersed in it-——has yet to be invented.
/
'
_
return from this digression, we observe in other mem—
'
_
bers of the sub—kihgdomthe same remarkable recuperation and
,
*
persistence.
Though along a limited line of beach the larger
anemohés, a valued hait for cod, may be removed by the
shermen almost entirely from the tidal rocks, yet the, same
species ourishès in thè-neighbouring and deè>per waters, and
_
sooner
or
later the blanks are obliterated.
Theother large
’
forms in deep water are in no danger, and even crushing under
_
foot on the deck of a ship does not always destroy them, fOr
—
each piece becomes
independent animal. It is stated that
'
in one ,of,the West Indian Islands a proprietor, wishing to
extirpate a colony of gorgeous anemonesl, which attræicted
1 By the kindnessof Mr J. _E. Duerden, Curat0r of the Museum of the
Institute
of Jamaica, Iam able to identify this form with Coqzdylaatis passio7'a,
Buch. and Mich, a gorgeo_usly 0010ured anemone.
Its column, incapable.of
retraction‘, is bright scarlet or orange,
diffuse or in gr'anulation5, while
_
distally it is b,l‘ownish red, The long adhesive and somewhat thick tentacles,
Whî0h WéWe gracefülly, are also incapable of complete retraction, and are dark
_
brown with minute white granulations,_whe thé tips afg bright purple 01“
greemsh—yeow, or in partial collapse rich iridescent green.
-
'
l