n6 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 



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 surface, and consists 

 of the remains of the minute algae or marine 

 plants which, as we have seen, are so abundant 

 there. These minute particles 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 tem- 

 perature and the like, or of particles from the 

 decomposing bodies of surface animals which 

 have either fed directly upon plants, or have 

 been able to elaborate their own food in the 

 same way as plants. 



