22 BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



modification. There is no mimicry or sexual selection, where 

 all is dark. Indeed, if it could be shown that the deeps are 

 absolutely dark, the acknowledged development there, by 

 some animals, of large and supersensitive eyes, might be a 

 proof of the Lamarkian doctrine of development consequent 

 on effort, as opposed to the views of Darwin, that it is solely 

 the result of selection conscious or unconscious and the sur 

 vival of the fittest. 



In the struggle for life of the abyssal animal, he is pitted 

 against the physical character of his environment, and not 

 against his neighbor or the rest of the fauna. Hence we should 

 have, and really do have, the process of evolution less ob 

 scured by complications in the abysses than is possible else 

 where. From a study of these animals in the light of their 

 environment, much may be hoped toward the elucidation of 

 great questions in Biology, and naturalists everywhere should 

 strive to promote deep sea dredging as essential to the progress 

 of Science. 



