n6 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



the deep-sea worm, and the worm something 

 else ; but that cannot be the whole story. 



What then is the basis of the food-supply of 

 the deep-sea animals? The first part of the 

 answer to this question is, that although there 

 are no living plants there is often plenty of 

 dead vegetable matter. Some of this is 

 washed out from the coastal belt and from 

 the mouths of rivers, for even at great depths, 

 far away from the coast, animals have been 

 fished up with their stomachs full of remains 

 of sea-grass and even of terrestrial plants. 

 But the greater part of it comes from the sur- 

 face, and consists of the remains of the minute 

 algae or marine plants which, as we have seen, 

 are so abundant there. These minute parti- 

 cles of vegetable matter form the food of 

 many of the smaller deep-sea creatures. 



Secondly, we must remember that dead 

 animal matter is continually sinking down 

 from the surface. This consists of minute 

 animals that have been killed by vicissitudes 

 of temperature and the like, or of particles 

 from the decomposing bodies of surface ani- 

 mals which have either fed directly upon 

 plants, or have been able to elaborate their 

 own food in the same way as plants. 



