A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 203 



traction by another spark or organism, to have to hark 

 back and recall what special characters escaped the mind 

 but were momentarily etched upon the retina. On this 

 point I had thoroughly coached Miss Hollister at the other 

 end of the telephone, so I constantly received a fire of 

 questions, which served to focus my attention and flick 

 my memory. Again and again when such a question came, 

 I willfully shut my eyes or turned them into the bathy- 

 sphere to avoid whatever bewilderment might come while 

 I was searching my memory for details of what had barely 

 faded from my eye. At a few stops on the descent, as I 

 have said, I permitted myself a minute or two of emotional 

 debauch, of reciting to myself the where and the what of 

 locality, surroundings, time of day, pressure, temperature, 

 and so on. But all the rest of the time I allowed myself no 

 rest from direct observation and reporting. The unpro- 

 ductive Oh's ! and Ah's ! of my first few dives were all too 

 vivid in my mind. 



Just above 1400 feet two black eels, about eighteen 

 inches in length, went through the beam — distinctly Ser- 

 rivamer. At 1400 feet my recent studies came to mind, 

 and told me that I saw a male golden-tailed sea-dragon 

 with a big cheek light (Idiacantbus) , but before it van- 

 ished I saw it was black, and considerably larger even than 

 the giant female of the species. So it was wholly unknown. 



At 1500 I swung for two and a half minutes, and here 

 occurred the second memorable moment in these dives — 

 opportunity for the deliberate, accurate record of a fish 



