AT THE END OF THE SPECTRUM I/I 



on all of these questions. There seems no doubt but that 

 the light organs function as light organs to the highest 

 degree, some steady, others fading and increasing in in- 

 tensity, and still others eclipsed by occasional winking of 

 dermal blinders. My suspicion of the inadequacy of our 

 modern methods of trawling is confirmed by the appar- 

 ent abundance of good-sized forms of vertebrates and in- 

 vertebrates in what our nets report as rather barren waters. 

 While short light waves seem to persist to considerable 

 depths, yet from 1700 feet downward, at least on an over- 

 cast day, they are wholly inappreciable to human vision, 

 and as far as observations on a lightless fauna are con- 

 cerned, this depth is as valuable as that of several miles. 



My inarticulateness and over-enthusiastic utterances 

 may well be excused on the grounds of sheer astonishment 

 at the unexpected richness of display. Another thing too 

 which was disconcerting as well as unexpected was the 

 great activity of all the creatures except such as jellies and 

 siphonophores. No wonder that but a meager haul results 

 from our slow-drawn, silken nets when almost all the or- 

 ganisms which came within my range of vision showed 

 ability to dart and twist and turn, their lights passing, 

 crossing, and recrossing in bewildering mazes. 



While we hung in mid-ocean at our lowest level, of 

 2200 feet, a fish poised just to the left of my window, its 

 elongate outline distinct and its dark sides lighted from 

 sources quite concealed from me. It was an effective ex- 

 ample of indirect lighting, with the glare of the photo- 



