Mr. J. W. Fewkes on Deep-sea Medusce. 247 



deposit that in its earlier stage is seen to be pierced by a very- 

 small pore opposite the cell-mouths, this pore or opening 

 being afterwards filled up in the later stage in many of the 

 specimens. 



XXX. — Are there Deep-sea Medusce? 

 By J. Walter Fewkes *. 



In a Report on the Medusse collected by the ' Albatross ' in 

 1883-84 t I have already considered the question whether 

 there are zones of Medusan life in the depths of the sea. I 

 have not, however, from the nature of that paper written all 

 that may be said, even in the present condition of our know- 

 ledge, of the facts bearing upon it. It is hoped that the 

 present paper will at least point out the great interest attached 

 to a scientitic answer to the question which is taken as the 

 title of this communication, 



A study of the fauna of the deep sea is of comparatively 

 modern growth. It is barely thirty years ago that naturalists 

 almost universally believed the abysses of the ocean to be 

 deserts as far as life is concerned. Deep-sea exploration has, 

 however, not only revealed the fact that the ocean-bed at 

 great depths is peopled by a rich and varied fauna, but also 

 that the animals which constitute that fauna are peculiar and 

 markedly different from those found in shallow waters. 



It would seem a most extraordinary exception if, after the 

 floor of tlie ocean at great depths had been found to be inha- 

 bited, the fathoms on fathoms of water through which the 

 sounding-weight passes to reach those depths are destitute of 

 life. In mid-ocean, where there is a highly varied nomadic 

 life u))on the surface and where the dredge has brought up 

 from the ocean-bed a characteristic assemblage of animals, are 

 we to suppose that between these places there is not a repre- 

 sentative tauna, or must we conclude that after we sink a few 

 fathoms below the surface life ceases, and that it is not until 

 we come to the floor of the ocean that life again appears ? If 

 between these two limits there is a fauna, is that fauna the 



* From the ' American Jourual of Scieuce,' February 1888, pp. 

 160-179. 



t " Report on the Medusee collected by the U. S. Fish Commission 

 steamer ' Albatross ' in the region of the Gulf Stream in 1883-84."' 

 Annual Report Comm. Fish and Fisheries, 1884, pp. 1)27-977, pis. i.-x. 

 1886. Many of the ideas there presented are also noticed in this paper. 



