A PRODIGIOUS GLUTTON 245 



a couple of ounces, had a belly like a balloon, and 

 several fluid ounces of digested food were taken from 

 its stomach. To exemplify the power of gape and 

 swallow of a typical deep-sea fish, we may take Odonto- 

 stomus atrattis (Fig. 43), a highly rapacious Scopeloid, 

 found in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea at 

 depths ranging from 370 to 573 fathoms, a creature 

 whose teeth are so large as to prevent the shutting 

 of its mouth. The specimen here figured has swallowed 

 a cuttlefish whose breadth is much in excess of that 

 of its own body. Other deep-sea modifications are to 

 be noticed in its jet-black colour, and in the presence 

 of phosphorescent pores along the course of the 

 mucous canals of the head. Odontosto7nus is interest- 

 ing in another way, since its only known congener 

 belongs to the Mediterranean Sea. A further interest 

 attaches to its eyes, which have an ogre-like freedom 

 of movement, and to the orbits in which they are 

 lodged. The eyes though lateral are capable of being 

 turned in until they look upwards, and the orbits are 

 converted into pockets by a transparent outer wall 

 of skin which supports the eyeballs when they are 

 rolled inwards. 



In Chcmliodtts pam7nelas (Fig. 44), from 1370 

 fathoms off the island of Minnikoy, the teeth though 

 not numerous are more formidable than in any other 

 Indian fish. The figure also shows the jet-black 

 colour, the multiple luminous organs, and the large 



