416 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



the John Dory (Zeus a/per) and the pilchard (Olupea pil- 

 chardus)." * 



Although very inferior in beauty to the tropical fishes, our 

 finny tribes are far superior in flavour, and may well challenge 

 the world to produce their equals for the table. The turbot, 

 cod, whiting, herring, whitebait, mackerel, sole, and even the 

 salmon, though it belongs rather to fluviatile history than to the 

 chronicles of the sea, may fairly be cited to testify to the truth 

 of this assertion ; so that surely we have no reason to complain 

 of having been but indifferently provided for in the geographical 

 distribution of fishes, which of all marine productions are the 

 most important to man. 



The researches of Forbes led him to believe that "as we 

 descend deeper and deeper, the denizens of the sea become 

 fewer and fewer, indicating our approach towards a silent and 

 desolate abyss, where life is either extinguished or exhibits but 

 faint glimmerings to mark its lingering presence ; " but subse- 

 quent deep-sea soundings, performed with improved dredging 

 apparatuses, have led to the surprising result that the bottom 

 of the ocean, even in its abyssal depths, far from being a dreary 

 void, as was formerly imagined, is in reality a busy scene, 

 absolutely teeming with life. And in this case, as in so many 

 others, we have a fine instance of the truth of the observation 

 that every new invention or discovery casts a new light upon 

 some other province of human knowledge ; for to the sub- 

 marine telegraph we are indebted for the first certain proof of 

 the existence of highly organised animals living at abyssal 

 depths. 



In 1860 the submarine cable between Sardinia and Bona, on 

 the coast of Africa, having completely failed, was picked up 

 from a depth exceeding one thousand fathoms, and found 

 encrusted with various shells and corals. All previous observa- 

 tions with reference to the existence of living creatures at 

 extreme depths had been liable to doubt from two sources. In 

 the first place the methods of deep-sea soundings were still so 

 imperfect that there was alwavs a possibility, from the action of 

 deep currents upon the sounding-line or from other causes, of a 

 greater depth being indicated than really existed ; and, secondly, 



* Godwin Austen, Natural History of the European Seas, pp. 103, 104. 



