out their length, and the cavities containing the 

 muscular attachments, almost entirely solid in 

 structure. 



Therefore, I reasoned, from an evolutionary 

 standpoint this solid structure was predisposed by 

 a long continued mode of life under great pres- 

 sures. Great pressures indicate depths at which 

 plants do not grow. Consequently it must be car- 

 nivorous. Also, being an active creature, it un- 

 doubtedly subsists largely, if not wholly, on living 

 prey. And this prey it captures by scent and con- 

 tact as it roams around over the unlighted floor. 



Fact Number Two had to do with its lack of 

 vision. This absence of eyes supports the theory in 

 Fact Number One, wherein it supposes that the 

 roving animal smells and feels for its food. 



Fact Number Three regards what was actually 

 found in the dead serpent-star's stomach. Like Fact 

 Number Two, this supports part of the conclusion 

 in Fact Number One. Although in this instance 

 digestion was so complete as to make the nature 

 of the stomach contents generally unrecognizable, 

 the microscope revealed a fragment of a tiny leg 

 of what was an undoubted crustacean — probably 

 an isopod. 



[61] 



