The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-18

atus would be lost entire Once lowered
properly, the tIawl Is dragged along hi
sea bottom, and after q while Is pulled 60
the surfaoe and on toard Of the vessel with
| such contents at II may have gathered
Its big net 10 lined ineiie with series
of smaller ones Of varying flneness Of
mesh, 30 as 10 rstain animals of different
sizes, while TO the bottom of IL are al
taohed several long tails Of ravelled rope,
called "tanRles, for capturing asa
urchins, ssaIfishes, oorals, etc. When
fetched upon deck the tTawl IL dumped
Into the topmost OF a series Of seive-:rays
of different meshes, and Those animals
which remain fast In the inside pocket
nets or meshed In the tangles are care
fully picked out.
Professor ARassiz reports that the
trawl which was hauled nearly every day
on the voyage from the Marquesasa to
Tahiti, bias done most satisf iotory work.
bringing up from the depths many "a
priceless specimen. When the net IL
drawn, he and his assistant naturalist
1rst divide the animals roughly into
groups. one comprising the very perisha-
BILE specimens aud the other EN- braoln q
the less delicate ones. The former are put
into glass jars, while the latter (suoh as
the fishes and larger orustaceans) are
consigned to large tanks. Next. the
colors Of the 1shes and other creatures
whose tint5 ara likely to fade are SIX etoh he'd,
because otherw wise this point Of knowledse
In respect to their appearance would ba
forever lost.
Very little scientific study Of the speci
mems Is made on board of ths Albatross,
however, the work of the expsdit ion
consisting almost wholly of collecting
There are two laboratories on the ship.
which are used for sorting tina animals
and caring Tor them. Some Of them can
only DO kept In alcohol and on ioe-for
ox t,In In
which In the tropics will decay before tbs
alcohol penetratss their tissues. unless
they are kept nearly frozen at the same
time. Little fShss are put into walls of
alcohol, and sometimes they are wrapre
In tissue paper TO preserve than from In
jury. Big abyssai fishes are cut open and
Injected with pressrvatives, and 1t Is q
curious thing to see the air bubble out OF
their tiesh while this process 10 being
performed, showing how spongy IL their
makeup. 1t II owing to this loossness OF
texture that they ara able to resist tbs
enormous pressure Of the depths, which
three miles down amounts to tw tons to
the square inoh. Sometimes they burst
when brought to the surface.
The Albatross expedition 10 making a
special study OF csphaIopods, cuttletish-
like animals which, ~ has recently been
ascsrtained, exist In amazing purnbsrs
and In great variety Of speciss In the
depth of the ocean. One reason why they
are 20 Interesting Is thst they represent
an extremely ancient form Of life, the
rocks Of today being often found fllsd
with their fosslls. Some Of them. too.
are very remarkable. 1t would seem that
they furnish food I'd many of the fsrooious
deep-sea fishes, which are SO much more
predatory and fieros than the worst Of the
sharks fAmilisrly known. On one occas-
Ion the Albatross steamed one hundr ed
miles over space Of sea so thickiy COW
cred with c,phaiopods Of q speciss previ-
ously rega, dad rs rare that there was NO
time when dozens Of thep were not in
slight, every one OF them dead and all
more Or less mutilabsd. These creatures
were about large enough to I'LL water
bucket, including their tentsoles.
Ths dsep-ses shrimps and other crusta-
osans bruogh. no by the traSl are most
OF them brill ant SCARLET in colo. aud
some Of them ara highly phosphorescen !.
Others have their hind-lsgs modified for
oil N bling mp on the sea pens and se,-l es
ss the bottom, under which oiroum stances
their young climb out on the ends OF the
mothers enormously long antsnnss tn