THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN. . 627 



sels excepting coal clinkers shoved overboard from steamships. Here Prof. Ver- 

 rill corrected himself. Twenty-five miles from land he dredged up an India rub- 

 ber doll. That, he said, was one thing the fish could not eat. 



Here the Gulf stream is forty miles further west than any map shows, Prof. 

 Verrill continued; and this stream of warm water from the south nourishes the 

 tropical Hfe near Massachusetts. The temperature further in shore is 35° in 

 August, on the edge of the submarine Mount Washington 52°, and toward the 

 bottom of the basin 39°, while further out to sea the temperature of the water 

 grows colder. On the surface the jelly fish, nautilus and the Portuguese man-of- 

 war, with other tropical fish, are found. In this belt the tile fish, about which so 

 much was said a year ago, were found in immense quantities, but this summer 

 although expeditions have been made for the express purpose of catching some 

 not one could be taken. Undoubtedly they had been killed, to a fish, by a 

 storm which carried the cold water into the gulf stream ; indeed, it is known thai 

 a cold current of water resting on the ocean's bed may contain Arctic fish, and a. 

 current of warm water floating over it on the surface may be alive with tropical 

 fish. 



As to the quantity of light at the bottom of the sea there has been much dis- 

 pute. Animals dredged from below 700 fathoms either have no eyes, or faint 

 indications of them, or else their eyes are very large and protruding. Crabs' 

 eyes are four or five times as large as those of a crab from surface water, which 

 shows that the light is feeble, and that eyes to be of any use must be very large 

 and sensitive. Another strange thing is that where the creatures in those lower 

 depths have any color, it is of orange red, or reddish orange. Sea anemones 

 corals, shrimp and crabs have this brilliant color. Sometimes it is pure red or 

 scarlet — in many specimens it inclines toward purple. Not a green or blue fish 

 is found. The orange red is the fish's protection, for the bluish-green light in 

 the bottom of the ocean makes the orange or red fish appear of a neutral tint and 

 hides it from enemies. Many animals are black, others neutral in color. Some 

 fish are provided with boring tails, so that they can burrow in the mud. Finally 

 the surface of the submarine mountain is covered with shells, like an ordinary 

 sea beach, showing that it is the eating-house of vast schools of carnivorous ani- 

 mals. A codfish takes a whole oyster into its mouth, cracks the shells, digests 

 the meat and spits out the rest. Crabs crack the shells and suck out the meat. 

 In this way come whole mounds of shells that are dredged up. — N. Y. Sun. 



