8 



Marvels of the Universe 



ioims, 

 are 



apparen 

 iluggiah 



[_Bu A/ih"r TitUiJe. 



tly of allied species, with a truiy awful appearance. They 

 and badly illuminated, and have enormous mouths. 



he carries a few scattered 

 lamps, arranged as in CoUeitia. 

 But his other illuminating 

 factors are so powerful that 

 the small array of electric 

 light globules make veiy little 

 difference. This gorgeously- 

 lighted creature was captured 

 by the United States steamer 

 Albatross within the tropics 

 at a depth of ten thousand 

 feet ; but, as usual with the 

 deep sea inhabitants, nothing 

 can be said of its habits. 



Our next subject is a 

 truly ferocious looking in- 

 dividual with a mouth cap- 

 able of enormous gape, the 

 lower jaw opening until at right angles with the body, while both jaws are armed with formidable 

 teeth. It is an elegant fish, obviously able to travel at tremendous speed, although its formidable 

 name, Cyclothone elongata has no allusion to the dreaded meteor of the tropics, but merely signifies, 

 after the manner of naturalists, that it has rounded opercular flaps to its head like a veil. This 

 creature has been taken b}' the Challenger south of New Guinea in four thousand eight hundred feet 

 of water and again in the Banda sea at two thousand feet, while many specimens have been secured 

 b\' the United States ships in the North Atlantic in depths varying from five thousand feet to 

 thirteen thousand feet. Its electric installation is severely simple, consisting of but two lines of 

 lamps on each side of its belly as far aft as the middle, and thence one line of lights to the tail. 

 But its lamps are larger and more brilliant than ordinary. 



Appalling is the only epithet that one can apply suitably to the appearance of Astronesthes 

 niger, a black creature of prey possessing a double line of luminous points on its under side. It is 



the first of these deep-sea 

 creatures noticed here that 

 has a barbel, or tentacle-like 

 appendage, from the lower 

 jaw, which is so characteristic 

 of the denizens of the lower 

 depths. Very little is known 

 about the creature, for only 

 half a dozen specimens alto- 

 gether have been taken in 

 various parts of the ocean, 

 and even these have been 

 divided into three species. 

 One of these was taken from 

 the stomach of a halibut 

 caught at a depth of eighteen 

 hundred feet, so that in spite 

 of its awe-inspiring appearance 

 and its devilish teeth it is 



el-like 



■Ihnr Tiddlf. 



and alinost trans- 



The fish at the top of the picture is a harmless, eel-like one, 

 parent; the centre one is swift and ferocious; and the lower one a modest, snake-like 

 form, only illuminated ahout the head. 



