202 A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 



was glad of a hundred feet of only blue-blackness and 

 active sparks. 



At 1 200 feet an explosion occurred, not at the window 

 but a few feet away, so baffling that I decided to watch 

 intently for repetitions. The large fish came again, and a 

 loose, open school of pteropods and small shrimps bobbed 

 about. The snails were shield-shaped as I well knew from 

 having handled thousands in the deep-sea nets. Their 

 empty shells form most of the sea bottom hereabouts. 



Suddenly in the distance a strong glow shot forth, cov- 

 ering a space of perhaps eight inches. Not even the wild- 

 est guess would help with such an occurrence. Then the 

 law of compensation sent, close to the window, a clear- 

 cut, three-inch, black anglerfish with a pale, lemon-col- 

 ored light on a slender tentacle. All else my eye missed, so 

 I can never give it a name. 



One great source of trouble in this bathysphere work is 

 the lag of mind behind instantaneous observation. For ex- 

 ample, at 1300 feet a medium-sized, wide-mouthed angler 

 came in sight, then vanished, and I was automatically de- 

 scribing an eight-inch larval eel looking like a transparent 

 willow leaf, when my mind shot back to the angler and 

 demanded how I had seen it. I had recorded no individual 

 lights on body or tentacle, and now I realized that the 

 teeth had glowed dully, the two rows of fangs were lumi- 

 nous. It is most baffling to gaze into outer darkness, sud- 

 denly see a vision, record the bare facies — the generality 

 of the thing itself — and then, in the face of complete dis- 



