14 THE FAUNA OF THE DEEP SEA 



classify the numerous and very remarkable facts that 

 were gained during her four years' cruise. 



It is, of course, impossible, in a few lines, to give 

 a summary of the more important of the Natural 

 History results of the ' Challenger ' expedition. Be- 

 sides proving the existence of a fauna in the sea at 

 all depths and in all regions, the expedition further 

 proved that the abysmal fauna, taken as a whole, 

 does not possess characters similar to those of the 

 fauna of any of the secondary or even tertiary rocks. 

 A few forms, it is true, known to us up to that time 

 only as fossils, were found to be still living in the 

 great depths, but a large majority of the animals 

 of these regions were found to be new and specially 

 modified forms of the families and genera inhabiting 

 shallow waters of modern times. No Trilobites, no 

 Blastoids, no Cystoids, no new Ganoids, and scarcely 

 any deep-sea Elasmobranchs were brought to light, 

 but the fauna was found to consist mainly of 

 Teleosteans, Crustacea, Coelentera, and other creatures 

 unlike anything known to have existed in Palasozoic 

 times, specially modified in structure for their life in 

 the great depths of the ocean. 



In 1876 the s.s. 'Voringin' was chartered by 

 the Norwegian Government and was dispatched to 



