GIANTS 271 



be regarded as a store of food for the young when 

 hatched. 



I may conclude these remarks upon the Indian 

 deep-sea Crustacea with a few mii^abilia, taken in 

 order. 



The great, heavy Isopod, Bathynomus giganteus, 

 which is found only here and in the depths of the Gulf 

 of Mexico, has already been mentioned ; a specimen 

 recently dredged off the north-east coast of Ceylon, in 

 594 fathoms, is a foot long, and thick and broad in 

 proportion ; compared with other Isopodes, it is a 

 Brobdingnagian among Gullivers. 



The Amphipoda of the deep sea also run to a large 

 size. The most massive species taken by the Investi- 

 gator is Andania spinescens, a blind species \\ inches 

 long, dredged in the Bay of Bengal at the enormous 

 depth of 1997 fathoms. Two specimens of Cystisoma 

 spinosimt, taken in the Andaman Sea between 172 and 

 498 fathoms, are much bigger than this, but what they 

 gain in inches they lack in substance, for they are mere 

 ghosts of creatures, as transparent and almost as fragile 

 as a jellyfish ; indeed, it is probable that, like most 

 jellyfish, they do not belong to the deep-sea fauna, but 

 float about on the face of the waters. 



The deep-sea Schizopoda are also vastly larger than 

 their exiguous kindred of the sea surface. The largest 

 species dredged by the Investigator, a blood- red G7ia- 

 thophausia, is about 32 inches long ; but specimens 



