202 



NATURE 



[June 30, i: 



is made to pass slowly under the slit by means of clock- 

 work, capable of running for twenty-four hours. If there 

 is any light falling on it, it is shown on the paper when 

 •developed, and with the increasing or the decreasing 

 power before or after noon. But by this method one 

 obtains no absolute information, as some more sensitive 

 anatter may be discovered any day. 



the deep waters some nimble animals able to escape 

 such a net as a trawl, I first built a trap of a special 

 shape and very large, in order to attract these supposed 

 animals, when properly baited. The trap is lowered 

 to the Ijottom with a steel cable, and hauled up again 

 /ifter having been left there for a day or two attached 

 to a buoy. 



Fig. 3. — Pkotostomias Guerttei. 



Indeed, light exists everywhere in the depths : where 

 the rays of the sun do not reach themselves, numbers of 

 •animals furnish it by special phosphorescent organs 

 which are real accumulators of light. Besides, I have 

 found animals with perfect eyes at every depth ; and 

 science teaches us that an organ always atrophies or 

 -disappears when the conditions are such as to prevent 

 its use. 



Among the special circumstances created by the 

 •statical and dynamical conditions of this space, organic 

 life presents itself under aspects which appear strange to 

 »those who are accustomed to its appearance near the 



The handling of this was very difficult in the beginning, 

 and required several years' practice to be brought up to 

 positive rules, but it has given most brilliant results, 

 animals quite unknown coming into my hands perfectly 

 well preserved against shocks, frictions and other causes 

 of damage to which they would be liable in a trawl. 



One interesting fact they have shown is the enormous 



Fig. 4. — Sperosoina Grimaldii. 



Fig. 5. — Deep-sea trap. 



surface. I endeavoured to obtain from all the levels of 

 the sea as many samples of the species belonging to 

 them as it was possible, but I had to find other apparatus 

 than the old trawl used for the former scientific cruises, 

 which can only get animals fixed on the bottom of the 

 sea, or hiding in the mud, or possessing very slow means 

 of progressing. Of course I have used it a great deal, 

 because no other instrument can collect for us a certain 

 fauna ; but when it occurred to me that there must be in 



NO. 1496, VOL. 58] 



numbers in which some animals exist in certain places. 

 As an example, I obtained one day in a trap that had 

 been lying on the bottom at 700 fathoms depth for 

 twenty-four hours, 1 198 fish called Simenchelys parasiticus^ 

 which was only known by one or two samples in a more 

 or less imperfect state. I have succeeded in sending these 

 traps as low as three thousand fathoms with complete 

 success. 



On another occasion my trap brought up a new crab, 



