BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES PISH COMMISSION. 261 



by the plummet, animals which certainly must have lived on the bot- 

 tom. These starfish, when brought up, werealive, and in theirstomachs 

 shellfish were found in an almost complete condition. It was then that 

 scientists felt that the old belief of the uninhabitableness of the sea was 

 giving way. 



About the same time some Swedish and Norwegian naturalists began 

 to penetrate as far as possible into the depths of the sea with the com- 

 mon fishing implements. They reached a depth of about 100 meters be- 

 low the surface. According- to the old established opinion they ought, 

 at that depth, not to have met with a single living being. But they 

 found, on the contrary, that at this depth life was by no means want- 

 ing; the animals which were brought up, moreover, were of strange 

 kinds, and differed materially from those living near the surface. 



A new, and hitherto entirely unknown, world seemed to open out. 

 No time was lost in gaining further knowledge of this interesting sub- 

 ject, and it was not merely a thirst for knowledge which urged men to 

 pursue these observations. The laying of the submarine cable between 

 England and America had been accomplished, and new cables were 

 being laid in many other parts of the sea ; it was therefore important 

 to know in what company these expensive cables found themselves at 

 the bottom of the ocean. 



It is well known that they consist of copper wires inclosed in gutta- 

 percha tubes. Along these wires the electric spark was to travel, 

 and there was a possibility that the tube might be injured. There 

 might be among the inhabitants of the deep some which, attracted 

 by the gutta-percha, could lay the metal wire bare, and thus render it 

 useless. This suspicion was well founded, for, among the very large 

 number of well-known marine animals, there were some which could 

 bore holes not only in the wall of a vessel, but even in the hard rock. 

 It was therefore necessary to learn what sort of animals lived at the bot- 

 tom, and keep a strict watch over them. 



English naturalists directed the attention of their government to this 

 important subject, and requested its aid in solving this problem. Their 

 request was granted, and a man-of-war, the Lightning, was in 1868 

 placed at their disposal. This was an unfortunate selectiou, for the 

 Lightning was a small vessel, entirely unsuited for the purpose which 

 it was to serve. Nevertheless Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Wyville Thomson 

 went on a cruise of two months in this vessel between Scotland and the 

 Faroe Islands. Everything seemed to go against them ; the weather 

 was very stormy nearly all the time, and there were but few days wheu 

 they could progress with their labors ; and still they succeeded in this 

 short time in recording some important and interesting observations. 

 They endeavored to exteud their observations to greater depths than 

 their Scandinavian colleagues. Although the sea in those parts has a 

 depth of more than 1,000 meters, they found an abundance of life at the 

 bottom, and the animals, which at that depth swam or crept about, did 



