264 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



somewhat doubtful. Who does uot know the glow-worm, which shines 

 so brightly in the darkness % Such light-giving animals are also found 

 in the water, some of them even in such vast quantities as to make the 

 entire surface of the sea to shine. Polyps have been brought up from 

 the deep, small animals which grow fast to the bottom, and are there 

 found in enormous numbers, outwardly resembling a vegetable product. 

 To illustrate this, imagine every grain in an ear of corn to be a living 

 animal, and imagine even the stalk full of them. These polyps also 

 give out light when they are touched. Behold here the living corn 

 fields of the deep ! If a fish swims over them Lis track is marked by a 

 streak of light. Might it not be possible that, under certain conditions, 

 these submarine living corn fields could throw out light and thus banish 

 darkness from these depths? 



Another question has also attracted the attention of the naturalists, 

 " On what do the animals of the deep live?" We have spoken above of 

 the large number of carnivorous animals in the sea, but all these animals 

 cannot possibly live in this same manner; some kinds, which become a 

 prey to others, must necessarily find their food in the vegetable kingdom. 

 This kingdom is represented in the sea, but only near the surface; it 

 does not, like the animal kingdom, extend into the depths. What food, 

 therefore, is found in the depths on which those primitive animals, 

 which serve as food for other higher animals, could feed ? To this the 

 naturalists reply that the water of the sea contains nutritive matter, 

 originating from the rivers which empty into the sea, from the waters 

 of the surface, from the numberless decaying animals, &c. The water 

 must, therefore, be considered as the food and drink of some animals. 



The naturalists of the Challenger were the first to confess that they 

 are still far from possessing a complete knowledge of the ocean. Astron- 

 omers assert that the human race, even after a thousand centuries, shall 

 not have exhausted the study of the heavenly bodies. Who would, 

 therefore, maintain that the same cannot apply to the animals of the 

 sea ? How can we ever expect to finish the observations of the illimit- 

 able deep if a single glass of water from any of our ponds, when viewed 

 through the magnifying glass, shows enough living beings to occupy 

 the lifetime of a man. 



We know, however, enough of the sea and its bottom to conquer the 

 prejudice which only twenty-five years ago was very widespread, viz, 

 that the sea — inhabitable near its surface — presented in its depths 

 nothing but a dark, dead, and eternally silent desert. 



