THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



dred and eighty-five fathoms ; and Area imbricata 

 in two hundred and thirty fathoms. 



Nor is the power of sustaining life at such im- 

 mense depths confined to the molluscan tribes; 

 zoophytes rival them in this respect. Great tree- 

 like corals, Prinmon and Oculina, spring from the 

 bottom-rocks, to which they are affixed, at a 

 depth of a hundred fathoms and upwards: the 

 magnificent Ulocyathus arcticus, a free coral, re- 

 cently discovered by Sars, lives on the mud at 

 two hundred fathoms; Bolocera Tuedise, Teaha 

 digitata, and Peachia Boeckii, soft-bodied sea- 

 anemones, reach to the same depth, while other 

 species of the same race, — ('apnea sanguinea and 

 Actinopsis /fa tv?, live at the amazing depth of from 

 two hundred and fifty to three hundred fathoms. 



It has been observed that the shells of moll usca 

 which inhabit very deep water are almost entirely 

 devoid of positive colour, and this has been sup- 

 posed to be the inevitable result of the darkness in 

 which they live; for it is assumed that all or 

 nearly all the sun's light must be absorbed by so 

 vast a mass of water. But yet most of these 

 zoophytes are highly-coloured animals, — the Acti- 

 nopsis being of a fine yellow, the Bolocera, Tea I'm, 

 and Capnea of a red more or less intense, and the 

 Ulocyathus of the most refulgent scarlet. The 

 pressure of a column of sea- water, from twelve to 

 eighteen hundred feet in height, must be quite in- 

 conceivable to us ; and we are at a loss to imagine 

 how the corporeal tissues can sustain it, and how 

 the vital functions can be carried on. Yet the 

 presence of these creatures implies the presence of 

 others. The Mollusca are mostly feeders on in- 

 fusoria and diatomacese ; therefore these minute 

 animalcules and plants must habitually live 

 there. The zoophytes are all carnivorous, and 

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