37 



THE BASSALIAN REALM. 



At indefinite distances below the surface, even in the tropics, we 

 find strange forms of animal life which differ, not only specifically 

 and generically from those of the superincumbent water, as well as 

 from those of the cold extremes of the globe, but sometimes repre 

 sent even peculiar families. Those forms which live at moderate 

 depths, existing as they do, in cold water, are related to, or even 

 belong to, the polar faunas, but as we go still deeper we find still 

 other assemblages of animals. Those of the lowest horizons are 

 often wonderfully modified, and the deep-sea explorations of re 

 cent years have brought to light many remarkable forms. Among 

 fishes, for example, are certain types that have long been known from 

 stragglers from the lesser deep, such as the Saccopharyngidae, Nem- 

 ichthyidae, Notacanthidae, Chauliodontidae, Stomiatidae, Paralepi- 

 didae, Alepisaurididae, Alepocephalidae, Regalecidae, Trachypteridae, 

 Berycidse,* Brotulidae, Macruridae, and Ceratiidae, several of which 

 have been greatly increased of late. Other types have been dis 

 covered comparatively recently, as the Eurypharyngidae, Bathyla- 

 gidae, Bathythrissidae, Halosauridae, and Chiasmodontidae. It is 

 obvious, then, that we have, in such an aggregate, a combination 

 of forms very different from any of the superficial faunas we have 

 heretofore considered. We will be justified, therefore, in recogniz 

 ing for them another realm, which we may call Bassaliaf or the 

 Bassalian realm. But caution is timely that it is rather a hetero 

 geneous one, and may hereafter require restriction. The data now 

 available are insufficient, however, for differentiating what are, 

 doubtless, the several constituents or regions of this realm. 



One of the characteristic features of the Bassalian animals ap 

 pears to be their wide dispersion and range. The same species may 

 recur at opposite points of the globe, and they appear to be re 

 stricted less by latitude and longitude than by bathymetrical influ- 



*The Holocentridae represent another type. 



f Bdfffftav, Doric Greek equivalent of Ba0o?. the deep, and dtta, an assem 

 blage. 



