150 Deep'Sea Chimaeras 



the deep sea during this last quarter of a century. The 

 sahent note of these chimaeras strikes me as being 

 paradox. You shall find one fish of normal shape with 

 enormous eyes, which will strike one as being indicated 

 as necessary at those dim depths. But the next one, 

 apparently of the same species as far as outline goes and 

 depth of habitat, has but the rudiments of eyes, mere 

 pin-points of black on each side of the head. Again, 

 two fish are brought up from apparently the same 

 depths. One has an enormous body, with corre- 

 sponding stomach, and a mouth which will barely admit 

 the little finger ; the other has a body like a whip-thong, 

 or, say, a small eel, tapering to a vanishing point, and 

 a mouth like a pelican's exactly. One fish will have a 

 stomach large enough to contain a fish as big as himself 

 (the stomach expanding, of course) in the usual situa- 

 tion for that organ ; another has a maw equally large, 

 but it is on the back ! for all the world like the hump 

 of a deformed camel. Other fish have immense tail fins, 

 while close relatives have absolutely none, their bodies 

 tapering off to nothing, without the vestige of a fin. 



Now I am fully aware that all this sounds like 

 the rioting of a luxuriant imagination, but the illustra- 

 tions are taken from life, and I do not think they 

 will lead any one to believe that I have exaggerated 

 at all. And it should also be remembered that those 

 specimens that we have, picked up as they have been 

 in widely separated areas of ocean and at various 

 times, are not likely to be even representative of the 

 strange sub-oceanic life. They only afford a glimpse, 

 as it were, into this secret realm of Nature where she 

 has outdone herself in the fashioning of strange mon- 

 sters. One other remark must be made before pro- 

 ceeding to particularise some individuals ; it is con- 

 cerning light. 



