360 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



strange, beautiful or ugly. Because, in the essence 

 of things, a pressure of a ton on each square inch 

 is only a normal shift in physical conditions, — a fish 

 which is chiefly mouth is merely a specialized adap- 

 tation to its particular environment, as is the 

 smaller organ of our brook trout. But in this 

 chapter we may let emotional aj)preciation go hand 

 in hand with truth, and science will take no harm. 

 To consider variety of mouths only. Figures 51 and 

 52 show what came up in a single haul, — the great 

 cavernous maw of a pallid-white pelicanfish, and 

 the unbelievably thin and curved, wire-like jaws 

 of a silvery thread eel. 



Turn please, to the little sea-devil in Figure 1, 

 and be honestly astonished enough to exclaim some- 

 thing more than Diabolidium arcturi! although, 

 come to think of it, that does have the advantage 

 of sounding like a hearty exclamatory oath. 



As I have said before, with the passing of red 

 light and plant life we descend into the zone of 

 carnivores, where every living thing is compelled 

 to feed on other animals, living or dead. I am no 

 vegetarian, but when I see a mighty ox or elephant 

 or behemoth himself in full action I do not belittle 

 the brawn- and muscle-making possibilities of a 

 plant diet. But the gentleness of countenance of 

 a cud-chewer, the soft, mild eyes of kine are pro- 

 verbial, and when I realized that tooth and claw 

 reigned supreme in the dark under-water world I 

 wondered whether this diet would affect the mien 

 of the natives. 



Without further preamble, we can safely assert 



