218 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



their disappearance, but the eye is so bhnded by 

 the sudden flare of the tail hghts that when they 

 are as instantly quenched, there follow several sec- 

 onds when our retina can make no use of the faint 

 diffused light remaining, but becomes quite blinded. 

 A better method of defence and escape would be 

 difficult to imagine. Although I sometimes cap- 

 tured twelve hundred lantern fish in a single hour's 

 surface haul, the wonder of this animal illumina- 

 tion never became less marvellous. 



An hour or two after the first Myctophids had 

 come to the surface, I would occasionally find a 

 somewhat larger, black fish among them. In the 

 glare of the laboratory electric lights this was not 

 a very unusual-appearing fish, although it had a 

 short, dependent chin tentacle and a mouth with 

 exceedingly wide gape. It was a fish named 

 Astronesthes (Col. Plate V), and for once the 

 ichthyological Adam had showed imagination, for 

 these Greek words mean "An eater of stars." Not 

 until I dissected one did I realize the full signifi- 

 cance of this title, for in each Astronesthes 1 found 

 a full-sized, just-swallowed lantern fish, although 

 the former was only about one-third longer than 

 its prey. In the dark, this voracious black fellow 

 was a gorgeous sight, the skin covered with a host 

 of minute luminous specks, while the fins fairly 

 glowed with pale green light. Curiously enough, 

 it was the stem, not the specialized tip of the 

 chin tentacle, which was luminescent. 



But I have given more than enough space to 

 such plain unvarnished facts concerning these com- 



