Chapter VI 



LIFE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS 



I HAVE said that the majority of the inhab- 

 itants of the deep sea have never been seen 

 by man, but nevertheless we have seen thou- 

 sands of the denizens of the ocean bed and 

 know that in this strange world dwell some of 

 the weirdest and most remarkable creatures 

 that can be imagined. 



Only within very recent times has anything 

 been known of the mysteries of the deep sea 

 and a few years ago any one who described or 

 figured such marvellous creatures as are now 

 known to exist would have been dubbed a 

 "nature faker" of the most outrageous sort. 



We owe our knowledge of the deep sea and 

 its inhabitants principally to the United States 

 Fish Commission in this country and to vari- 

 ous European expeditions abroad, although 

 numerous wealthy individuals, — notably the 

 late Alexander Agassiz and the Prince of 



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