118 THE HAUNTS OF LIFE 
different. They have enormous heads with 
strong jaws and teeth, and very large round 
bodies, so that they look as if they were “ noth- 
ing but a mouth and a stomach.” Sometimes 
the lower part of the skin of the body is so 
loose that it can stretch to an enormous extent, 
and more than once a fish has been dredged 
up containing within it, still undigested, an- 
other as big as, if not bigger, than itself! 
Before we leave the question of food, we 
should be clear in regard to two things—first, 
that the absence of living plants in the Deep 
Sea is bound to make the animal’s struggle for 
existence very keen; and, second, that what 
count for most are not the bodies of big ani- 
mals that occasionally sink to the bottom, but 
the minute creatures which are ceaselessly 
sinking. It is rather a pretty picture—the 
ceaseless rain of dead animalcules sinking 
through the miles of water like snowflakes on 
a quiet winter evening. 
NO ROTTENNESS 
We are accustomed to think of Bacteria as 
practically omnipresent, playing many a role 
in the drama of life, now helping and again 
