32 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



less than 200 fathoms, and, on the other, that the fauna as a 

 whole is not blind as in caves, but that by far the majority of 

 animals living at a depth of about 2,000 fathoms have eyes 

 either like their allies in shallower water, or else rudimentary, 

 or sometimes very large, as in the huge eyes developed out of 

 all proportion in some of the abyssal Crustacea and fishes; and 

 undoubtedly adapted to make the most of the little light exist- 

 ing in deep water. " 



Verrill bears practically the same testimony: * 



"That light of some kind and in considerable amount 

 actually exists at depths below 2,000 fathoms may be regarded 

 as certain. This is shown by the presence of well -developed 

 eyes in most of the fishes, all of the cephalopods, most of the 

 decapod Crustacea and in some species of other groups. In 

 many of these animals the eyes are relatively larger than 

 in the allied shallow water species. " This author thinks that 

 the rudimentary eyes in many gastropods are due to burrow- 

 ing habits. 



It may be said in general that a greater proportion of eyes 

 in abyssal regions are either rudimentary or wanting, on the 

 one hand, or unusually large and effective, on the other, than 

 in shallow water. 



We now come to the main purpose of this paper — the 

 attempt to explain the phenomena of coloration among 

 animals of the deep sea. The theories heretofore advanced 

 may be briefly summarized as: 



First. — The vain and impotent conclusion that this profusion 

 of color is meaningless. Beddard frankly makes the following 

 statement: t "The inevitable conclusion, therefore, from 

 these facts appears to be that the brilliant and varied colora- 

 tions of deep-sea animals are totally devoid of meaning; they 

 cannot be of advantage for protective purposes, or as warning 

 colors, for the single and sufficient reason that they are 

 invisible. " 



This sort of unconditional surrender is unworthy of the 

 scientific spirit of the age. Beddard, however, it must be 

 remembered, delights in finding evidence whereby he can 

 throw discredit on the Neo-Darwinian school. It would have 

 been much more to the point had he contented himself with 

 saying that the utility of these colors had not as yet been 

 explained. 



•Report of Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1882, p. 1054. 

 + Animal Coloration, p 37. 



