116 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
the deep-sea worm, and the worm—something 
else; but that cannot be the whole story. 
What then is the basis of the food-supply of 
the deep-sea animals? The first part of the 
answer to this question is, that although there 
are no living plants there is often plenty of 
dead vegetable matter. Some of this 1s 
washed out from the coastal belt and from 
the mouths of rivers, for even at great depths, 
far away from the coast, animals have been 
fished up with their stomachs full of remains 
of sea-grass and even of terrestrial plants. 
But the greater part of it comes from the sur- 
face, and consists of the remains of the minute 
alge or marine plants which, as we have seen, 
are so abundant there. These minute parti- 
cles of vegetable matter form the food of 
many of the smaller deep-sea creatures. 
Secondly, we must remember that dead 
animal matter is continually sinking down 
from the surface. This consists of minute 
animals that have been killed by vicissitudes 
of temperature and the like, or of particles 
from the decomposing bodies of surface ani- 
mals which have either fed directly upon 
plants, or have been able to elaborate their 
own food in the same way as plants. 
