The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-12-22
NEW ANIMAL LIFE
oosaH ANIMALS FOUND AS THE RE.
suit OF DEEP SEA EXPLORATIONS

Horms OF Marine Life Are Drawn
From the Seas Bottom in a Tran
for the Purpose.
Among the special circumstances
created by the statical and dynamicaI
conditions of the deep sea. organic life
presents Itself under aspects which an
pear strange ITO those who are accus-
IUiiied TO Its appearance near the sur.
lace. endenvored to obtain from all
tno ieFelS OF the sea as many samples
VI tHe species belonging to them as il
was possible, but | had to find other
apparatus than the old trawl used for
FORMER scientific cruises, which can
only get animals fixed on the bottom
Vi the sea, or hiding in the mud mr.
possessing very slow means of progress
sing. Of course have used it a great
oedl, because no other instrument can
collect Tor us certain fauna; but when
II occurred ito me that there must be in
the deep waters some nimble animals
aDie 80 escape such net as a trawl.
L niSt built trap of special shape and
very large, in order to attract these
supposed animals, when rightly baited
ne trap is lowered to the bottom
with steel cable, and hauled up again
after having been left there for a day
or two attached to buoy. The hand
ling of this was very difficult in the be-
ginning, and required several years of
practice to be brought up to definite
rules, but it has given most brilliant
results, animals quite unknown COM
ing into my hands perfectly we'll pre-
served against shocks, frictions and
other causes of damage to which they
would be liable in trawl. One inter
esting fact they have shown is the
enormous numbers in which some ami
mails exist In certain places,
AS an example, l obtained one day
in trap that had been lying on the
bottom at 700 fatboms depth for "a
hours, 1913 fish, called Simenchelys
parasiticus, which was only known by
one or two samples in a more or less
imperfect state. l have succeeded in
sending these traps as low as 5000
fathoms with complete success. On
another occasion my trap brought up a
new crab, one of the largest ever
known, Geryon affinis, and there were
"a specimens Of it. Curiously enough,
several of them, which had not yet
found the entrance of the trap when it
YVES hauled up, made the whole voyage
Of many hundreds of fathoms clinging
voluntarily to the outside of the trap.
Lately | have obtained a certain
number of large animals living in
these intermediate depths, and belong
ing to the very interesting group of
cephalCds, by examining the stomachs
Of several cetaceans who feed upon
them. Since the discovery of this in
teresting fact. l added to the scientific
gear of my vessel a complete whaling
arrangement. This new method has
given to me the most remarkable ami
mails of the whole collection; one es-
pecially, the LepidOteuthis Grimaldi,
can be classified in no actually known
species, genus, or even family of his
order. 1t was vomited in 1895, during
the dying struggles of a sperm whale,
but had, unfortunately, lost its head
by the last adventures of its life. The
fragment is about yard in length,
and the complete animal must have
been over seven feet; adding the arms.
we get a monster of colossal strength.
Its most remarkable feature is a
cVirass of large prominent scales
which cover its visceral bag; these are
quite unknown with animals Of that
order. The vomitings of the same
sperm W. lie, who covered two acres of
the sea with his blood, contained an
other immense cephalopod, a CpciOtu-
this with arms as strong as mans,
and carrying suckers armed with claws
us powerful as those ola tiger; this ami
NAL is furnished with luminous organs.
In 1897 another large cetacean that |
was attacking with my whaleboats
vomited a large fragment of a cepha-
lopod which was peculiar in being of
viscid substance not unlike glycerine;
no net could retain it, and we only
secured it by dipping it up with a
large tub as we'll as the mass of water
in which it was floating. But it will
be convenient to remind the reader
that cetaceans divide themselves into
two separate groups. One class, to
which belongs the right whale or other
marine mammals chased by whalers,
feed upon very small animals that they
absorb simply by moving about with
their mouths open. They have no
teeth, but a sort Of sieve made of what
is called whalebOne.
Another group. to which belongs the
sperm whale, is armed with powerful
teeth. a single one weighing some
times as much as six pounds. They
live upon big prey, mostly cephalopods,
as aforesaid. These cetaceans are
ferocious. while the others have a
much milder temper, and some of
them, as the "Orca Gladiator" can
be very dangerous to attack. Two
years ago | chased a school of three of
these Just off the Monaco Rock, and
very soon one was struck by my whal-
er's harpoon.
While II was ending with violent
struggles, the two others came alons-
side the whaleboat and seemed will
ing to fight for their companion. They
swan around and around, sometimes
SO close that the men touched their
enormous backs with their hands. |
had to release at once that boat, and
for an hour we were (seventeen men
and three boats) engaged in most
grand wrestling The result was that
a second cirque was killed by a spar
stroke.
If we sight some wrechage-as log
or a barrel-we always find under it
or near II fishes Of good size and Of
different species that never seem to
abandon this guide that they have
chosen, and that takes them across
the Atlantic. They ore very easily
caught with a fish spear. and the tun-
ny fish are hooked with a towline bait
ed with q rough imitation OF a squid.
Many sailors wrecked on the Atlantic
ard abandoned for days and weeks on
its apparently uninhabited wilderness,
have died of hunger among most
abundant and attainable food, and