Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-05-27
nrnrreIa OF the Deep Sea,

The London Times, reviewing DR.. Wy
vile Thomson account of the dredging
cruises of her Majestys ship Porcupine
and Lightning during the summers Of
1868, 1869 and 1870, summarizes as fol-
lows: ssH hn
The neither darkness then, so far from
being a lifeless waste, teens almost
everywhere with creatures not only fan
tastic, but larger than their shallow.
water cousins; and the paddler about
rock pools and tide sides at watering
places will learn from this book that far
away at sea, over that l00-fathom line to
the westward which marks the ancient
sea monsters Far bigger as well as far
uglier and far more beautiful than were
ever transferred to an aquarium; that,
To give two instances, the caprella, the
phantom shrimp which may be found
~ sea.weed, sitting upright like mon
kew holding Ga BY his hind claws, and,
with ghaStly grimaces, mesmerizing all
nassers.bv with his fore claws, sits in
ike guise upon sponges mile or two
deep in the darkness-there, however,
not a quarter Of an inch, but three
inches long; and that the nymphonss-
sea spiders who crawl out fTom under
stones, and who, having no body to speak
of, carry their stomach, for economy OF
space, packed in long branches up tke
inside of each leg-are found in the
depths of the Arctic Sea, not, as here,
half an inch, but two feet in diameter.
1t is impossible to give even a sketch
Al .aaIor,nol tran curac which hQVn
been brought to light by these cruises OF
the Lightning and Porcupinef not forget
ting those of the Swedish nsturalists and
of the yacht Mona, whose owner, Mr..
Marshall Hall, we hope may be SIMULATED
by other yachtsmen. Among their dis
coysrjss are true worms, sea urchlns,i
star fish, ipclucing the magnificent and
novel Brimigs, gorthily named after the
goddess Freya's fsForite jewels, ORR
noids ("stalked flowers Of living stone },
corals, and above all, sponges ca forms
either new oF till new known only as
fossil, or strangely spongh as inhabitants
Of shallow water. But the strangest, as
we'll as the most beautiful, inhabitants
of the deep sea ooze are the CLASSY
sponges, in which the skeleton is com
posed, not Of horny fbers, as IN the
sponges of our dressing rooms, but Of
flexible flint, often more delicate than
the finest spun glass. The best known
of these is the Venus flower basket, or
Euplectella, which lives imbedded in the
mud of the seas of the Philippines, sup
ported by a glass frill standing up
round Il like Queen Elizabeth's ruff. "
Twenty years ago there was but one
known specimen in Europe. 1t may be
now bought for thirty shillings, or less,
in any curiosity shop; and 1t is strange
that this--one Of the most exqui-
site. both "a form and texture,
Of all natural ohjects-is not ottener
seen, even already as draw
ing-rooOu ornament Equally cun'
Gus, even mora puzzling in its con
struction, Is the glass rope sponge, or
Hyalonema, which roots itself in the
mud by q twisted Wisp Of strong sirt
needles. somewhat on the principle OF =
screv.pips. So strange and complicated
h its structure that learned men for q
long while would literally mako neither
head nor tail Of il, az long as they haa
onlv Japaness specimens 70 study.
which vas top and which bottom, which
The thing itself, and which parasites
growing on IL, phsfher . vas . sponge,
or q zoophyte, or somethinE else, could
not be settled, and is in some msu >
minds scarcely settled nov. Bat the
discovery sf the same, o. q eissely allied
species. in abundsnce from the Butt Of
the LeEs down 70 Setubal, on the coast
Of Portugal. where the shark fishers call
ii seaWhip." has gives cur savans