50 WONDERS OF THE DEEP 



be found exhibited by one form of ocean life or 

 another. 



"The ocean in its profoundest depths— its plains, 

 Its mountains, its valleys, its precipices — is animated 

 and beautified by the presence of innumerable organ- 

 ised beings," writes Louis Figuier. "Among these 

 we find the Algge, solitary or social, erect or droop- 

 ing, spreading into prairies, grouped in patches, or 

 forming vast forests in the ocean valleys. These sub- 

 marine forests protect and nourish millions of animals 

 which creep, which run, which swim among them; 

 others, again, sink into the sands, attach themselves 

 to rocks, or lodge themselves in their crevices ; these 

 construct dwellings for themselves ; they seek or fly 

 from each other; they pursue or fight, caress each 

 other lovingly, or devour each other without pit>'. 

 Charles Darwin truly remarks somewhere that our 

 terrestrial forests do not maintain nearly so many 

 living beings as those which swarm in the bosom of 

 the sea. The ocean, which for man is the region of 

 asphyxia and death, is for millions of animals the 

 region of life and health ; there is enjoyment for 

 myriads in its waters; there is happiness on its 

 banks." 



The majority of the deep-sea animals live by 

 eating the mud, clay, or ooze, or by catching the 

 minute particles of organic matter that fall from the 

 surface. Many of the mud-eating species are of 

 gigantic size when compared with their allies living 

 in the coastal waters, and they themselves become in 

 turn the prey of numerous rapacious animals armed 



