Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-01-21

rOosts up an apple Tree.
The party had q pleasant day at
Blacksburg, and were royalty entertained
10y General Lomax and the faculty.
The school is ina line condition, with 40
students.
The party left at night for the South
western Lunatic Asylum.
----s-----
TIE OCEAN DEPTHS.
4 TOrch-Light Procession at the Bot
tom Of the Sea.
Washington starl
In jars and bottles that stand in rows
on the shelves OF J, boratOry at the Ma
tion0l Museum are many strange fishes.
10 catch such fish rs these a fisherman
would have to 90 far out into the open
sea and have iish-line two or three
miles long. These fishes have been
studied and figured, and made the sub
iects Of many new and wonderful
chapters of natural history. DR. Earle
ton II. Bean, the curator of technology,
was studying one of them when a sur
reporter invaded his laboratory the
other day. II was a new species, one
hitherto undescrbed. and, OF course, it
was with some reluctance that he put 1t
aside to chat with n sur reporter who
wanted to learn in half an hour what it
has taken n corps of scientists, with
steamships and sailors and dredging APP
paratus, years to fluid out.
RECENT DISCOVERIES.
Until few years ago science knew no
more of the forms OF life in the ocean
depths than it knew of the inhabitants
of Mars. Myth peoplcd these silent
sombre abyscs with fancllul forms, mer-
maids, goblins. monsters with eyes of
horrid size that haunted whlrpools,
guarded wonderful treasures OF pearls
or held court in splendid submarine
palaces built of corals and beautiful
rocks. Science OF course knew that any
mermaid or goblin or other creature that
lived in these great depths must have a
peculiar organization TO adapt 1t TO the
physical conditions of there, andcOul /
construct perhaps on paper Hypothetical
deep-sea fauna. st first knowledge OF
the existence of deep-sea fishes was OBJ
tanned from specimens found floating on
the surface-hshes that IN pursuit OF
prey had left their native depths and
persisted. Then deep-sea dredges and
beam trawl-ncts were called INTO use.
The British expedition in the Challenger
and American expeditions IN the Blake
and the Albatross have given to the world
about all thnt is known OF decp-sea
fishes. IL is from the nets of the Blake
and Albatross that the bottles and jars IN
Dr. Beans laboratory have been filled.
HOW DEEP SEA FISH ARE CAUGHT.
Americans have rade a number Of i'm
provements on the apparatus used on
the Challenger expedition for deep-sea
explorations. To send down a dredge or
net to thc,bottom and haul it upagaln was
the work Of a whole day on the Chal-
lenger. and then if the net did not hap
pen 10 strike the bottom right 1t would
come to the surface empty. BY the use
of wire cable and improved apparatus
for winding the Albatross party can
make two or three hauls "A day
Mr.. Alexander AgassiZ devised a new
beam trawl-nct that would never miss
tire. or so constructed that on which
ever side it fell it would do effective
work. Such a net Is lowered from the
vessel into the sea. To the line is Mt
tached AN apparatus that gives notice
when the net reaches bottom. When
this occurs more line Is paid ont to give
full scope to the net. Along the line at
regular distances are attached weights
that lie mt the bottom. When all Is
ready the steamer is slowly backed,
until the net has been dragged distance
oil a quarter OF a mile or more over the
bottom of the ocean. The weights along
the line keep the cable down against
the bottom for some distance ia front
of the net, so the net Is dragged lying
flat on the floor Of the sea. When the
net is hauled up it is sure 10 contain
some fish from the bottom. The net has
a mouth or opening like the inverted
cone OF an eel-pot. 50 that fish easily
find their way IN; but once III, cannot
find their way out. Occasionally fish
brought TO the surface this way will be
still tremulous with life, but most Of
them are as dead as fish can be-as
dead AS man would be il some fisher
man on the moon cast net to the earth
and dragged him up into the airless
spaces above our atmosphere.
THREE MILES UNDER WATER.
Some of these fishes are brought NJ
from depth Of three miles The Chal-
lenger captured specimens from depth
Off. 900 fathoms. The deep-sea dredging
parties of the United States Fish Com
mission have gotten specimens from
depth Of = $40 iathoms. These deep-sea
fish are many of them bizarre in app ar
ance. One thing contrary to the fairy
tale notions OF the sea depths Is that
there Is no great variety or brlllmncy OF
color. This simplifcation of colors is
attributed to the absence Of sunlight.
The colors are generally dark brown
or black, or a sllvery white. The
oddness of the fish is in their
shapes and peculiar development of
their organs. There are some OF them
with huge heads and little bodies others
with tiny SIX Ills, but mouths 50 huge that
the lower Jaw seems 10 be plvOted In
their stomachs; some with great, tiger
ish-looking teeth some with immense
round eyes others with little pin-points
of eyes. and Others with no eyes at all.
All Of these fish, and $50 different kinds
have been found and described by the
scientists of tue Fish Commission, have
long Latin names. 1t may be said to the
credit of the fish that they are not re-
sponsible for the names, as they were
contented TO go without names until the
Fish-Commission net brought them to
the surface.
THEIR PECULIAR SURROUNDINGS.
The structural differences between the
deep-sea fish aud the fish that frequent
the shores or remain near the surfaco are
due to their peculiar physical surround
ings. the absence OF sunlight, the IN
creased pressure of water at such great
depths, and the quiet stiffness of the
water AT such depths the water is not
agitsted as it is at the surface, and this
fayors the development of long, delicate
tentacles or feelers. These tentacles helpa
fish in its cropping about the dark depths
searching for food. When the fish are