Chapter I: 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 WORLD" 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 Anatomy, as is consistent with clearness of expression; to describe the ocean in its majestic calm and angry agitation; to delineate its inhabitants 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_ contrast with the leafy, cup-shaped expansions of the _Explanarias_, and the variously-branching _Madrepores_, now spread out like fingers, now rising in trunk-like branches, and now displaying an elegant array of interlacing tracery. The colouring surpasses everything; vivid greens alternate with brown and yellow; rich tints, ranging from purple and deepest blue to a pale reddish-brown. Brilliant rose, yellow, or peach-coloured _Nullipores_ overgrow the decaying masses: they themselves being interwoven with the pearl-coloured plates of the _Retipores_, rivalling the most delicate ivory carvings. Close by wave the yellow and lilac Sea-fans (_Gorgonia_), perforated like delicate trellis-work. The bright sand of the bottom is covered with a thousand strange forms of sea-urchins and star-fishes. The leaf-like _Flustræ_ and _Escharæ_ adhere like mosses and lichens to the branches of coral--the yellow, green, and purple-striped limpets clinging to their trunks. The sea-anemones expand their crowns of tentacula upon the rugged rocks or on flat sands, looking like beds of variegated ranunculuses, or sparkling like gigantic cactus blossoms, shining with brightest colours.

"Around the branches of the coral shrubs play the humming-birds of the ocean: little fishes sparkling with red or blue metallic glitter, or gleaming in golden green or brightest silvery lustre; like spirits of the deep, the delicate milk-white jelly-fishes float softly through the charmed world. Here gleam the violet and gold-green Isabelle, and the flaming yellow, black, and vermilion-striped Coquette, as they chase their prey; there the band-fish shoots snake-like through the thicket, resembling a silvery ribbon glittering with rose and azure hue. Then come the fabulous cuttle-fishes, in all the diaphanous colours of the rainbow, but with no definite outline.

"When day declines, with the shades of night this fantastic garden is lighted up with renewed splendour. Millions of microscopic medusæ and crustaceans, like so many glowing sparks, dance through the gloom. The Sea-pen waves in a greenish phosphorescent light. Whatever is beautiful or wondrous among _fishes_, _Echinoderms_, _jelly-fishes_ and _polypi_ and _molluscs_, is crowded into the warm and crystal waters of the Tropical ocean."

It is stated on the Title-page that "THE OCEAN WORLD" is chiefly translated from M. Louis Figuier's two most recent works. In justice to that gentleman, we must explain this statement. The History of the Ocean is to a large extent, but not wholly, compiled from "La Terre et les Mers," one of the volumes of M. Figuier's "Tableau de la Nature;" but the larger portion of the work is a free translation of that author's latest work, "La Vie et les Moeurs des Animaux." Other chapters, such as "Life in the Ocean," the chapter on Crustaceans, and some others, are compiled from various sources; they will not be found in either of M. Figuier's volumes; but in other respects his text has been pretty closely followed.

* * * * *

M. Figuier's plan is to begin the study of animals with the less perfect beings occupying the lower rounds of the Zoological ladder, his reason for doing so being an impression that the presence of the gradually perfecting animal structure, from the simplest organisms up to the more perfect forms, was specially calculated to attract the reader. "What can be more curious or more interesting to the mind," he asks, "than to examine the successive links in the uninterrupted chain of living beings which commence with the Infusoria and terminate in Man?"

The work, he hopes, is not without the impress of a true character of novelty and originality; at least he knows no work in which the strange habits and special interests of the Zoophytes and Molluscs can be studied, nor any work in which an attempt is made to represent them by means of designs at once scientifically correct and attractive from the picturesque character of the illustrations, most of which have been made from specimens selected by Monsieur Ch. Bévalet from the various museums in Paris.

One of those charming plain-speaking children we sometimes meet with lately said to M. Figuier, "They tell me thou art a vulgariser of Science. What is that?"

He took the child in his arms, and carried it to the window, where there was a beautiful rose-tree in blossom, and invited it to pull a rose. The child gathered the perfumed flower, not without pricking itself cruelly with the spines; then, with its little hands still bleeding, it went to distribute roses to others in the room.

"Thou art now a vulgariser," said he to the child; "for thou takest to thyself the thorns, and givest the flowers to others!"

The parallel, although exaggerated, is not without its basis of truth, and was probably suggested by the criticism some of his works have met with; the critics forgetting apparently that these works are an attempt to render scientific subjects popular, and attractive to the general reader.

* * * * *

In the present edition of "THE OCEAN WORLD" it is only necessary to add to the above (dated January, 1868), that the work has been revised throughout, and some not unimportant errors corrected. For several of these I am indebted to Mr. C. O. G. Napier, who has rearranged the whole of the Mollusca. Mr. David Grieve has kindly revised and added to the Crustacea; and to the Messrs. Johnston of Montrose, and Dr. Wilson Johnston of the Bengal service, I am indebted for some valuable practical information respecting the salmon and the various modes of taking it.

W. S. O.

_March 1, 1869._

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE
THE OCEAN 1
Depth of the Sea 5
Colour of the Ocean 11
Phosphorescence 13
Saltness of the Sea 15

CHAPTER II.

CURRENTS OF THE OCEAN 27
Trade-winds 28
Gulf Stream 31
Storms 32
Tides 35
Polar Seas 43
Antarctic Seas 50

CHAPTER III.

LIFE IN THE OCEAN 60

CHAPTER IV.

ZOOPHYTES 68
Foraminifera 87
Infusoria 97

CHAPTER V.

POLYPIFERA 116

CHAPTER VI.

CORALLINES 119
Tubiporinæ 120
Gorgoniadæ 121
Isidians 124

CHAPTER VII.

ZOANTHARIA 147
Madreporidæ 149
Porites 162
Actiniaria 181
Minyadinians 193

CHAPTER VIII.

ACALEPHÆ 195
Medusadæ 213
Rhizostoma 219
Vilelladæ 229
Ctenophora 254

CHAPTER IX.

ECHINODERMATA 259
Asterias 260
Crinoidea 270
Echinidæ 280

MOLLUSCA.

GENERAL DEFINITION 301

CHAPTER X.

MOLLUSCOIDA 303
Tunicata 309
Ascidians 309

CHAPTER XI.

ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSCA 316

CHAPTER XII.

ACEPHALOUS MOLLUSCA 344
Mytilidæ 344

CHAPTER XIII.

CEPHALOUS MOLLUSCA 391
Their Characteristics 391

CHAPTER XIV.

PULMONARY GASTEROPODS 396
Limnæidæ 397
Buccinidæ 428
Purpura 430
Pterocera 439

CHAPTER XV.

MOLLUSCOUS PTEROPODS 441

CHAPTER XVI.

CEPHALOPODOUS MOLLUSCA 445
Tentaculifera 445
Acetabula 448

CHAPTER XVII.
CRUSTACEANS 477
General Definition 477
Crabs and Crayfish 486
Lobsters 496

CHAPTER XVIII.

FISHES 502

CARTILAGINOUS FISHES 508
Cyclostomata 508
Selachia 510
Sturiona 524