622 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [20] 



The folio wiDg, according to Professor Smith, are some of the more 

 interesting forms : "A new genus of Brachyura, allied to Uthma, 1,496 

 to 1,735 fathoms ; an Anomuran belonging to A Milne-Edwards' new 

 genus Galacantha [=Munidopsis Whiteaves], 1,479 fathoms ; two species 

 of Pentaclieles (fig. 152, a genus of Eryontidae allied to Willemcesia)^ be- 

 tween 843 and 1,917 fathoms ; a stout Palsemonid {ISfotostomus, fig. 160), 

 6 inches long and intense dark crimson in color, 1,309 to 1,555 fathoms j a 

 gigantic Pasiphae (fig. 158), 8J inches long, 1,342 fathoms ; three species 

 of a remarkable new genus allied to Fasiphae, and also to Symenodora, 

 and some other genera of PalsemonidsB, which shows that Pasiphae is 

 closely allied to the Palaemonidse ; a large PensBid, a foot in length, re- 

 ferred to the little-known genus Aristeus (fig. 159) ; and a large Sergestes, 

 3 inches in length." 



''A striking characteristic of the deep-sea Crustacea is their red or 

 reddish color. A few species are apparently nearly colorless, but the 

 great majority are some shade of red or orange, and I have seen no 

 evidence of any other bright color. A few species from between 100 

 and 300 fathoms are conspicuously marked with scarlet or vermilion, 

 but such bright markings were not noticed in any species from below 

 1,000 fathoms. Below this depth orange-red of varying intensity is 

 apparently the most common color, although in several species, very 

 notably in the Notostomus already referred to, the color was an exceed- 

 ingly intense dark crimson." 



I have in former articles repeatedly called attention to the prevalence 

 of salmon, orange, and scarlet colors among the deep-sea animals of vari- 

 ous groups, and have insisted that these are protective colors in conse- 

 quence of the peculiar nature of the light transmitted to them through a 

 vast thickness of sea-water. This view necessarily implies that a certain 

 an;ount of sunlight is thus transmitted. The existence of well developed 

 eyes in the deep-sea fishes, cephalapods, Crustacea, &c., may well be re- 

 garded as positive evidence of the existence of a certain amount of light 

 even at the greatest depths explored. According to Prof. S. I. Smith 

 there were sixteen species of decapod and schizopod Crustacea taken by 

 the "Albatross " at depths below 2,000 fathoms, eight of them ranging 

 downward to 2,949 fathoms, and all these species had normal faceted 

 eyes. Mne of then had dark-colored eyes, similar to allied shallo w- water 

 species, and not much smaller; four had small black or dark eyes; one 

 had light-colored eyes larger that usual in the shallow- water species of 

 the same genus ; and nine had small light-colored eyes. 



Professor Smith has also called attention to the remarkably large 

 size and small number of the eggs of many of these deep-sea Crustacea, 

 their eggs being often ten, fifteen, and sometimes even more than three 

 hundred times larger than those of allied shallow- water species. 



" The large size of the eggs is a marked feature in many of the deep- 

 water Decapoda. The eggs of Ewpagurus poUtus from 50 to 500 fathoms, 

 are more than eight times the volume of those of the closely allied and 



