144 THE STORY OF LIFE IN THE SEAS. 



a few of the more characteristic and remarkable 

 forms. 



Although it may be considered to be one of 

 the greatest scientific triumphs of the century to 

 have discovered the existence of animal life in a 

 region, which nearly all the distinguished men of 

 science of the last generation believed to be as 

 lifeless as the moon, the revelations of the dredge 

 brought with them a certain amount of dis- 

 appointment. 



The study of the crust of the earth has re- 

 vealed to us the fact that in times long since gone 

 by, there existed not only the hairy Mammoths, 

 the Iguanodons, and many other terrestrial 

 monsters; but that the sea was peopled with 

 certain Reptiles, Fish, Molluscs, Echinoderms 

 and Crustaceans, which are now believed to be 

 extinct. 



When it was first discovered that some forms 

 of animal life had attached themselves to a tele- 

 graph cable lying in 1200 fathoms, and that it 

 was therefore a fact that life existed in very 

 deep water, a successful application was made 

 by scientific men to the British Government to 

 assist them in a thorough survey of this hitherto 

 unknown field of investigation. 



The result of the voyages of H.M.S. Light- 

 ning and H.M.S. Porcupine was to prove the 

 existence in water of 1000 fathoms in depth of a 

 rich Fauna of rare and very remarkable animals. 

 Among them were several new genera of Sea- 

 lilies and a very curious Heart-urchin. The Sea- 

 lilies that were then known to live in shallow 

 water were very few in number, and nearly all of 



