IN THE OCEAN DEPTHS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 9, 7 January 1913, Page 3

IN THE OCEAN DEPTHS.

THE PLANET’S FIND. Three-fifths of the whole earth’s surface is plunged perpetually beneath the rolling waste of water. More than half of these sea-swept hills and valleys are down 2000 fathoms deep beuoatli the waves. Plunged undert ncath 2i miles of slimy, cold, pitch- |’ blackness, lighted here and there by the pale diffusion from phosphorescent fishes and disturbed but little by tbe I slow, eternal droppings of the cal- , eareous remnants of dead pelagic creatures, lies one-third of the world’s exterior.

But only a part of this one-third is so near the shining sides of the ships that carry our cargoes (says the New York Tribune). The ocean liner whose slow, dissolving particles sink 21 miles to a resting place in the ultimate slime, is not half way to the floor of the deepest valley of the sea. It is only a few weeks since the German survey ship, the Planet, made the deepest sounding thus far taken, and some time later flashed her message of triumph by cable to Berlin. About 10 sea miles off the north coast of Mindanao, Philippine Islands, the Planet plumbed a depth of 32,078 ft., or 6.67 miles.

Take the loftiest moimtain peak that lifts its cloud-piercing pinnacle so’ near to heaven that men cannot scale it and live, and sink its towering

bulk in tins valley off the coast of Mindanao—its summit will be buried three-quarters of a mile under the shimmering sea, far below the point where sunlight ever shines. This abyss that the Planet has found exceeds by 482 ft. the greatest depth hitherto known. SOME OF THE INHABITANTS.

Strange creatures inhabit the ocean depths. One curious product is a lish that is able to take into its stomach prey larger than its body. Its body swells and forms an enormous pocket under the body, giving the appearance of two adjoining bodies, and it is possible to see through the walls of this singular digestive organ, which is transparent, all that is going on withAs for sea serpents, it is possible that there exists in the depths some creature as yet unclassified by scientists that has furnished some foundation in fact for the highly coloured tales as fascinating to the land-lubber and sailor alike. As often as not whales, lines of birds, resting on the water, and floating seeweed are at the bottom of these stories, but there have been taken long eel-like sharks, sometimes luminous over the entire body. The ribbon fish furnishes another likely, subject for the sea serpent story. It resembles a beautiful white or silver ribbon, slashed with black, with a long fin extending its entire length. A line of vivid red plumes, or pompons, floats over its head. A specimen of the ribbon nsh, weighing, weighing 8001 b, and measuring more than 30ft., has been caught off the coast of Scotland. Several parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans are infested by the thanatophidia, deadly poisonous seasnakes of which fifty varieties are known. The cobra and bushmaster of. Africa are the only two land snakes whose poison is so deadly, and there is no case on record of a recovery from their bite. , They rarely approach near the land, and when removed from the water bite and snap viciously, but soon die. The coral, grass, and carpet snakes are the only three laud snakes that are clad so beautifully. They are banded, striped, speckled, and blotched with colourings ot green, olive, yellow, blue, and black. They are often seen coding and swimming with beautiful motions m the transparent Indian Ocean. hen dashing after their prey their bodies stiffen like an arrow and they use as a propeller only the broad paddlelike tail, which forms their only striking difference from land serpents.