in the Twenty Years before 1895 61 



Bathybius. When the " Challenger" started on her voyage, 

 it was not only expected that the bottom of the sea would 

 be found everywhere covered by a calcareous deposit, but it 

 was believed that it had been shown that the mud at the bottom 

 of the ocean was everywhere associated with an all-pervading 

 organism to which Huxley 1 , its discoverer, had given the 

 name of Bathybius. 



The following extract from Wyville Thomson's Depths 

 of the Sea, p. 410, gives a description of a mud in which this 

 mysterious being was believed to be present. 



"In this dredging, as in most others in the bed of the 

 Atlantic, there was evidence of a considerable quantity of soft 

 gelatinous organic matter, enough to give a slight viscosity 

 to the mud of the surface layer. If the mud be shaken with 

 weak spirit of wine, fine flakes separate like coagulated mucus; 

 and if a little of the mud in which this viscid condition is most 

 marked be placed in a drop of sea-water under the microscope, 

 we can usually see, after a time, an irregular network of matter 

 resembling white of egg, distinguishable by its maintaining 

 its outline and not mixing with the water. This network 

 may be seen gradually altering in form, and entangled graiuilo 

 and foreign bodies change their relative positions. The 

 gelatinous matter is therefore capable of a certain amount 

 of movement, and there can be no doubt that it manifests 

 the phenomena of a very simple form of life. 



"To this organism, if a being can be so called which shows 



trace of differentiation of organs, consisting apparently 



M amorphous sheet of a protein compound, irritable to a 



low degree and capable of assiinil.it ing food, Professor Hu\l< v 



Jvcn the name of Bathybiu^ //(/<( Av//Y. If this has a claim 



to be recognised as a distinct living entity, exhibiting it> matun 



in<l final form, it mu-t be referred to the simplest division 



M shrll-l< >^ rhi/.opoda, or if we adopt the class proposed 



by Professor Haeckel, to the monera. Tin- < m unMance 



h gives its special interest to Bathybiit* normous 



Mt ; \\lirtli.T it l>e continuous in one vast sheet, or broken 



up into circumscribed individual |>aitil>, it appears to extend 



1 Journal / Microscopical Science (1868), Vol. vin. p. I. 



