Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1902-11-27

| The Aibatross scientific explora
tion expedition in the South Sea.
has especially investigated the ce
phalopods-that is, cutflefsh-lik.
animals-which exist in amazing
numbers and in great variety O
species in the depth of the ocean
One reason why they are SO inter
esting is thai they represent an ex
tremely ancient form of life, ths
rocks Of today being often found
filed with their fossils. Some O
them, too, are very remarkable. II
would seem that they furnish food
to many of the ferocions deep-ses
FISHES. which are so much more
predatory and fierce than the worst
of sharks Familiarity known. On one
occasion the Albatross steamed Ion
miles over a space of sea so thickly
covered with cephalopods Of q spe.
cies previously regarded as rare,
that there was no time when dozens
OF them were not in sight, every one
of them dead and all more or less
mutilated. These creatures were
about large enough to ill a water
bucket, including their tentacles.
The deep-sea shrimps and other
crustaceans brought up by the
trawl are most of them q brilliant
scarlet in color, and some of them
are highly phosphorescent. Others
have their hind legs modified for
climbing up on the sea-pens and
sea-lilies at the bottom. under which
circumstances their young climb out
on the ends of the mothers enor-
mously-long antenae to reach for
food. The sea-lilies, like the sea-
pens, are not plants, but animals;
but the sea-lilies counterfeit exquis-
ite flowers, while the sea-pens, of a
beautiful deep red, are likewise imi-
tative of the vegetable world. Some
of the sea-pens are very phos-
phorescent, and doubtless the inky
caves of the ocean are continually
and most beautifully illuminated by
forests of these curious creatures,
through which the finny inhabitants
of those mysterious regions pass in
endless torchlight professions, some
bearing brilliant fambeaux on their
heads, others with rows OF cleaning
spots csn their sides. and others yet
with their fins on their whole bodies
luminous, as in the case of certain
abyssal sharks.
Among the bottom animals are
queer-looking worm like relatives
of the sea urchins, called "holothur-
ians," their method of living is very
simple, inasmuch as they absorb
their nourishment by eating the
ooze, which is filed with organic
slime. Some of them have suckers
by which they hold on. The sailors
of the Albatross have named one
species of them boxing gloves
and another species t'overshoes, -
by reason of the grotesque resem-
blance they bear to those articles.
In the great hollow of the sea floor,
to which he gave the name of Moser
Basin, Prof. Agassiz gathered q
great many sharks teeth and the
ear bones of whales. It is wonder
full what numbers of these objects
are scattered about on the bottom
of the ocean, the imperishable quail
ity of their material being account
able, of course, for their preserva.
tion.
Perhaps the most remarkable o.
the abyssal fishes are the sharks
some of which are eel-like in form
and reach a length of at least sixty
feet. Another freak is the oarfish
which is very rapid swimmer and
shaped like huge snake. Occa
sionally specimens have been strand
ed. Then there is theelectric snake
which has given severe shocks Il
some of the officers of the Albatross
Beyond q depth Of half mile thu
fishes begin TO have enormous eyes
their bodies become slender and
their skeletons soft. No applianc.
has ever been invented suitable fol
taking the bottom fishes, which are
probably too swift and too wary Il
be captured by the slow moving
trawl. The number of species 81
far collected by science from below
1000 feet is not over 600, seven
eighths of which are represented
by a single specimen. Scientist.
are embarrassed to classify them
because it would never do to dis
sect an only aud unique example %
an animal NJ NJ PETERS. Pm. ID