Life in the Deep Sea. 287 



think it is highly probable that certain borings, to be seen on 

 forameniferous shells in the same deposits, may have been 

 effected by it. Bat whether this be the case or not, it is quite 

 clear that an Annelid lives at the depths indicated, and there 

 builds up its tenement." 



At 682 fathoms Dr. Wallich met with a Serpula, and 

 a cluster of apparently living polyzoa, and also a minute 

 living Spirorbis. From a depth of 445 fathoms he fished up a 

 couple of living "amphipod Crustaceans/' and a "filamentous 

 Annelid," and when we consider how these creatures could ac- 

 commodate themselves to such localities, we have to take into 

 account the " extraordinary fact that the Ophiocomce, the Ser- 

 pula, the Spirorbis of the deep soundings, — one and all belong- 

 to well-known littoral species." From these facts Dr. Wallich 

 observes : " We are irresistibly led to the inference that their ac- 

 climatization must have kept pace, during a vast sequence of 

 generations, with the changes going on in the portion of the 

 sea bed inhabited by them, and hence that, under sufficiently 

 favourable circumstances, species may accommodate themselves 

 to conditions differing so widely from those under which they 

 were originally created, that their subjection to them, under 

 circumstances less favourable, inevitably results in their extinc- 

 tion." 



From what is known of deep sea life, we should be cautious in 

 pronouncing judgment upon the far deeper portions of the 

 ocean bed than our investigations have yet reached. There 

 may be, probably is, a limit to the descending zones of life, but 

 where it lies, seems rather for experiment than for deductive 

 reasoning to tell. The more immediate question for solution is, 

 how the creatures that have been discovered manage to live, 

 under circumstances differing so widely from those in which we 

 are accustomed to trace the mutual relations and dependance of 

 animal and vegetable forms. Vegetable structures have not 

 been found alive at greater depths than 2400 feet, while animals 

 are now known to exist at 15,000 feet below the surface level. 

 If any sort of plant lives much below the above-mentioned 

 depth, it must perform its functions without the stimulus of 

 light ; and if animals exist far below the regions of vegetable 

 life, they must be released from that dependance upon the lat- 

 ter, which we have been accustomed to regard as an universal 

 law. Such are the interesting problems which the marine zoo- 

 logist has to solve. 



The pressure of great depths only opposes itself to life 

 under peculiar forms. At a depth of a mile it amounts to 

 2640 lbs. on every square inch, or 160 times as much as we 

 have to sustain on the surface of the globe. A close vessel 

 would need immense strength to resist anything of the 



