40 A Guide to the Zoological Collections 



all others in this respect. Some of the models and 

 specimens in Cases 15-18 show the marvellous develop- 

 ments of teeth and maw. 



The model of the deep-sea Torpedo, Bcnthobatis 

 moresbyi needs a special explanation, since it appears to 

 upset our calculations. It has been implied that Taure- 

 dophidium has lost its functional eyes because it lives in 

 the dark, and that certain other fishes although they 

 live in darkness, or, at any rate, in deep gloom, have 

 retained their eyes because they have acquired their 

 own means of illumination. But here is a fish Bentho- 

 batis moresbyi, which undoubtedly lives at the bottom 

 and at a depth to which sunlight does not penetrate, 

 and which — as we should therefore expect — is blind, but 

 which yet has, in the skin of its back, numerous little 

 luminous pores. 



The probable explanation of this apparent anomaly 

 is that the pores are lures to attract prey — the prey 

 being then instantly killed or disabled by the powerful 

 electric organs which Bcnthobatis possesses. 



