2o6 A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 



tunity to add a definite new fish or other creature to our 

 knowledge of the Hf e of the deep sea. At the possible risk of 

 cumbering taxonomy with a nomen nudum j I have chosen 

 to give definite names to a very few of these clearly seen 

 fish/ the physical type of which must, for a time, be repre- 

 sented by a drawing, made under my direction, with only 

 the characters of which I am certain. With no visible in- 

 crease of fin vibration, my Pallid Sailfin moved into outer 

 darkness, and when I had finished telephoning the last de- 

 tails I ordered a further descent. This entire volume would 

 not contain the detailed recital of even a fraction of all 

 the impressive sights and forms I saw, and nothing at 

 these depths can be spoken of without superlatives. 



At 1630 feet a light grew to twice its diameter before 

 our eyes, until it was fully the diameter of a penny, ap- 

 pearing to emanate from some creature which bore irreg- 

 ular patches of dull luminosity on its body. The outline 

 was too indistinct to tell whether it was with or without 

 a backbone. 



At 1900 feet, to my surprise, there was still the faintest 

 hint of dead gray light, 200 feet deeper than usual, at- 

 testing the almost complete calm of the surface and the 

 extreme brilliancy of the day far overhead. At 2000 feet 

 the world was forever black. And this I count as the third 

 great moment of descent, when the sun, source of all light 

 and heat on the earth, has been left behind. It is only a 



1 Descriptions have appeared in the Bulletin of the New York Zoological Sockty, 

 Volume XXXVII, Number 6. 



