第 13 节
作者:精灵王      更新:2021-04-30 17:23      字数:9322
  We shall soon find another sort; an Echinus;               and have time to talk over
  these most strange (in my eyes) of all           living animals。
  There are a hundred more things to be talked of here:                   but we must
  defer the examination of them till our return; for it wants an hour                  yet of
  the   dead   low   spring…tide;   and   ere   we   go   home;   we   will   spend    a   few
  minutes   at   least   on   the   rocks   at   Livermead;   where   awaits   us   a strong…
  backed quarryman; with a strong…backed crowbar; as is to be                    hoped (for
  he   snapped   one   right   across   there   yesterday;   falling     miserably   on   his
  back   into   a  pool   thereby);   and   we  will   verify  Mr。   Gosse's   observation;
  that …
  〃When   once   we   have   begun   to   look   with   curiosity   on   the   strange
  things    that   ordinary    people    pass   over   without    notice;   our   wonder     is
  continually excited by the variety of phase; and often by the                uncouthness
  of form; under which some of the meaner creatures are                    presented to us。
  And this is very specially the case with the              inhabitants of the sea。       We
  can scarcely poke or pry for an hour            among the rocks; at low…water mark;
  or walk; with an observant           downcast eye; along the beach after a gale;
  without finding some          oddly…fashioned; suspicious…looking being; unlike
  any form of life       that we have seen before。          The dark concealed interior
  of the sea     becomes thus invested with a fresh mystery; its vast recesses
  appear   to   be   stored   with   all   imaginable   forms;   and   we   are   tempted   to
  think there must be multitudes of living creatures whose very                   figure and
  structure have never yet been suspected。
  〃'O sea! old sea! who yet knows half Of thy wonders or thy pride!'〃
  GOSSE'S AQUARIUM; pp。 226; 227。
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  These   words   have   more   than   fulfilled   themselves   since   they   were
  written。     Those   Deep…Sea   dredgings;   of   which   a   detailed   account          will
  be found in Dr。 Wyville Thomson's new and most beautiful book;                           〃The
  Depths of the   Sea;〃   have   disclosed;  of   late   years;  wonders of           the   deep
  even more strange and more multitudinous than the wonders                       of the shore。
  The   time   is   past   when   we   thought   ourselves   bound         to   believe;     with
  Professor   Edward   Forbes;   that   only   some   hundred            fathoms   down;   the
  inhabitants   of   the   sea…bottom   〃become   more   and           more   modified;   and
  fewer and fewer; indicating our approach towards                   an abyss where life is
  either   extinguished;   or   exhibits   but   a   few    sparks   to   mark   it's   lingering
  presence。〃
  Neither   now   need   we   indulge   in   another   theory   which   had   a   certain
  grandeur in it; and was not so absurd as it looks at first sight; …                  namely;
  that;   as   Dr。   Wyville   Thomson   puts   it;   picturesquely   enough;        〃in   going
  down   the   sea   water   became;   under   the   pressure;   gradually        heavier   and
  heavier; and that all the loose things floated at             different levels; according
  to their specific weight; … skeletons           of men; anchors and shot and cannon;
  and last of all the broad gold           pieces lost in the wreck of many a galleon
  off the Spanish Main;           the whole forming a kind of 'false bottom' to the
  ocean; beneath         which there lay all the depth of clear still water; which
  was     heavier than molten gold。〃
  The facts are; first that water; being all but incompressible; is                 hardly
  any heavier; and just as liquid; at the greatest depth; than                 at the surface;
  and that therefore animals can move as freely in it                 in deep as in shallow
  water; and next; that as the fluids inside              the body of a sea animal must
  be at the same pressure as that of            the water outside it; the two pressures
  must balance each other;           and the body; instead of being crushed in; may
  be unconscious that          it is living under a weight of two or three miles of
  water。     But   so    it   is;   as   we   gather   our   curiosities   at   low…tide   mark;   or
  haul   the    dredge   a   mile   or   two   out   at   sea;   we   may   allow   our   fancy   to
  range     freely out to the westward; and down over the subaqueous cliffs of
  the hundred…fathom line; which mark the old shore of the British                         Isles;
  or rather of a time when Britain and Ireland were part of                     the continent;
  through water a mile; and two; and three miles deep;                   into total darkness;
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  and   icy   cold;   and   a   pressure   which;   in   the open   air;   would   crush   any
  known   living   creature   to   a   jelly;   and   be  certain   that   we   shall   find   the
  ocean…floor      teeming     everywhere       with    multitudinous       life;  some    of  it
  strangely like; some strangely           unlike; the creatures which we see along
  the shore。
  Some   strangely   like。       You   may   find;   for   instance;   among   the   sea…
  weed; here and there; a little black sea…spider; a Nymphon; who has                      this
  peculiarity;   that   possessing   no   body   at   all   to   speak   of;   he carries   his
  needful      stomach     in   long   branches;     packed     inside    his    legs。     The
  specimens which you will find will probably be half an                     inch across the
  legs。    An almost exactly similar Nymphon has been                     dredged from the
  depths of the Arctic and Antarctic oceans; nearly               two feet across。
  You may find also a quaint little shrimp; CAPRELLA; clinging by its
  hind claws to sea…weed; and waving its gaunt grotesque body to and                       fro;
  while  it   makes   mesmeric   passes   with   its   large  fore  claws;  …     one  of  the
  most   ridiculous   of   Nature's   many   ridiculous   forms。         Those   which   you
  will find will be some quarter of an inch in             length; but in the cold area of
  the North Atlantic; their cousins;          it is now found; are nearly three inches
  long; and perch in like         manner; not on sea…weeds; for there are none so
  deep; but on       branching sponges。
  These     are   but   two   instances     out  of   many     of  forms    which     were
  supposed to   be peculiar to   shallow  shores repeating   themselves   at               vast
  depths:      thus   forcing    on   us   strange   questions     about   changes     in   the
  distribution     and    depth   of   the  ancient    seas;   and   forcing    us;   also;   to
  reconsider the old rules by which rocks were distinguished                     as deep…sea
  or shallow…sea deposits according to the fossils found                in them。
  As    for  the   new    forms;    and   even    more    important     than   them;    the
  ancient forms; supposed to have been long extinct; and only known                          as
  fossils; till they were lately rediscovered alive in the nether                 darkness; …
  for them you must consult Dr。 Wyville Thomson's book;                      and the notices
  of   the   〃Challenger's〃   dredgings   which   appear   from        time   to   time   in   the
  columns   of   〃Nature;〃   for   want   of   space   forbids      my   speaking   of   them
  here。
  But if you have no time to read 〃The Depths of the Sea;〃 go at                     least
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  to   the   British   Museum;   or   if   you   be   a   northern   man;   to   the admirable
  public museum at Liverpool; ask   to be shown the deep…sea                    forms;   and
  there feast your curiosity and your sense of beauty for              an hour。     Look at
  the   Crinoids;   or   stalked   star…fishes;   the   〃Lilies of   living   stone;〃   which
  swarmed   in   the   ancient   seas;   in   vast variety;   and   in   such   numbers   that
  whole beds of limestone are           composed of their disjointed fragments; but
  which have vanished out           of our modern seas; we know not why; till; a
  few years since;       almost the only k