SHELLS OF GREAT DEPTHS. 107 



successor had appeared, at first scarce and 

 scattered, but when in its own true and cha- 

 racteristic province, as abundant as the prede- 

 cessor had been. Below fifty fathoms we had 

 new sets of mollusks, the range of each set 

 extending wider and wider as we descended, 

 until at last, beneath the great depth of one 

 hundred fathoms, a far extending region was 

 found inhabited by similar shell-fish throughout, 

 and equal in extent to all the other zones united. 

 In the deepest parts explored of this abyss, very 

 few species were found, and it seemed as if 

 we were approaching a region which was barren 

 and desert, where there was no more life, un- 

 less of minute forms of low organization. 



In the tract between eighty and one hundred 

 fathoms on the Lycian coast, we found great 

 multitudes of curious bivalves ; shells of the order 

 Brachiopoda, species of Terebratula and Crania, 

 very interesting to the student of organic re- 

 mains, on account of their resemblance to some 

 of the most ancient mollusks of which we find 

 traces in the strata composing our earth. 



The shells taken from great depths in the 

 Gulf of Macri were delicate and tender forms, 

 often very fragile and thin. They were usually 



