TWO YOUNG NATURALISTS. 99 



" And the savants of the expedition, rumour says, 

 did not think it necessary to abstain from tasting 

 them. Whether this was actually the case or not, the 

 collection did not suffer from it, and the materials 

 brought back by the expedition will require at least 

 ten years of study to work them out. 



" You remarked a little while since that the depths 

 of the sea must be absolutely dark. Well, the fish 

 overcome this difficulty by lighting it themselves, and 

 by carrying their lamps about with them. Many fish 

 are furnished with luminous plates, and almost all the 

 inferior forms are phosphorescent : for instance, the 

 Brisingia, a magnificent star-fish which derives its 

 name from the favourite darling of a Scandinavian 

 divinity." 



" What a strange world ! Is the Trachinus viper a 

 found among these fishes ? I mean, are the fishes 

 like those we are acquainted with ? " 



" Not altogether so," said the doctor. " Indeed this 

 was one of the things that caused some surprise to 

 the naturalists of the expedition. The fishes found at 

 great depths are soft, without rigidity. To obtain the 

 necessary firmness they require to be submitted to a 

 pressure of several hundred atmospheres. When re- 

 lieved of this pressure, they decompose and pass into 

 the condition of a gelatinous mass." 



u It is certainly a great pity," said Kene, "that we 

 cannot actually study these things for ourselves on 



