A DESCENT INTO PERPETUAL NIGHT 219 



lizing glimpse which made me, more than ever, long for 

 bigger and better nets. 



At 2450 a very large, dim, but not indistinct outline 

 came into view for a fraction of a second, and at 2500 a 

 delicately illumined ctenophore jelly throbbed past. With- 

 out warning, the large fish returned and this time I saw 

 its complete, shadow-like contour as it passed through the 

 farthest end of the beam. Twenty feet is the least possible 

 estimate I can give to its full length, and it was deep in 

 proportion. The whole fish was monochrome, and I could 

 not see even an eye or a fin. For the majority of the "size- 

 conscious" human race this marine monster would, I 

 suppose, be the supreme sight of the expedition. In shape 

 it was a deep oval, it swam without evident effort, and it 

 did not return. That is all I can contribute, and while its 

 unusual size so excited me that for several hundred feet I 

 kept keenly on the lookout for hints of the same or other 

 large fish, I soon forgot it in the (very literal) light of 

 smaller, but more distinct and interesting organisms. 



What this great creature was I cannot say. A first, and 

 most reasonable guess would be a small whale or blackfish. 

 We know that whales have a special chemical adjustment 

 of the blood which makes it possible for them to dive a mile 

 or more, and come up without getting the "bends." So this 

 paltry depth of 2450 feet would be nothing for any simi- 

 larly equipped cetacean. Or, less likely, it may have been 

 a whale shark, which is known to reach a length of forty 

 feet. Whatever it was, it appeared and vanished so unex- 



