92 HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



Nicobar Islands are a similar formation in this 

 respect. In the former, the silicious 1 sandstone with 

 these embedded wonders attains to a thickness of 

 1,100 feet, and is miles in extent. Professor Haeckel 

 holds that these beautiful forms of life are found in 

 all the zones, extending from the surface to a depth 

 of five miles. This view is not accepted by Dr. 

 Agassiz. He contends that there is a fauna or 

 life group of animals characteristic of the surface, 

 and another equally peculiar to the bottom, but 

 that there is no intermediate fauna. It is quite 

 possible that, during the daytime the creatures of 

 the surface might descend to a considerable depth 

 in order to escape the light, heat, and the disturbing 

 influences of surface winds ; but below two hundred 

 fathoms there is a barren region, until at some sixty 

 or seventy fathoms from the bottom, the deep-sea 

 denizens in all their queer shapes begin to appear. 

 Instead of troubling the reader with the lengthy, 

 almost unpronounceable names of the individual 

 organisms in the accompanying illustrations, we 

 designate them by the name common to the whole 

 family, viz. Radiolarians. This name arises from 

 the fact that all the tiny creatures send out 

 innumerable feelers in all directions, as we have 

 already indicated. Professor Haeckel accounts for 

 739 genera, and 4,318 species. What a picture of 

 varied, complex, and beautiful patterns ! What hints 



1 Lat. silex, flint. 



