F. GEOGRAPHY. 



183 



guage, and an instrument for bringing up samples of water 

 from the bottom. A hydraulic machine will also be carried 

 on board to test with accuracy all the physical apparatus, 

 thermometer, pressure guages, etc. Piano wire will be used 

 for sounding-lines, according to Sir William Thomson's meth- 

 od ; and an aquarium will be kept on board to aid in prose- 

 cuting the study of the development of interesting animals. 



The route proposed, which, of course, may experience some 

 modification hereafter, is to start from Portsmouth about the 

 beginning of December for Gibraltar, making a haul of the 

 dredge in the Bay of Biscay on the way, and thence proceed 

 to St. Thomas, Bermuda, and the Azores ; thence to Bahia, 

 and across to the Cape of Good Hope ; then southward to 

 the Crozetts, Marion Islands, and Kerguelen's Land. A run 

 as far southward as possible will next be made, and then the 

 vessel will proceed to Sydney, New Zealand, the Campbell 

 and Auckland groups, Torres Strait, New Guinea, and New 

 Ireland. A long cruise, of perhaps a year, will be made 

 among the Pacific islands, after which the expedition will 

 visit Japan for a stay of two or three months ; thence go 

 northward to Kamtschatka, whence a run will be made 

 through Behring Straits, and then among the Aleutian Isl- 

 ands, and back through the deep eastern region of the Pacif- 

 ic by Easter Island, and possibly to the Galapagos Islands, 

 and around Cape Horn, and home. The expedition is expect- 

 ed to last about three years and a half. 



It is needless to say that, under the auspices of the gentle- 

 men who have charge of this expedition, nothing will be left 

 undone to make it a perfect success ; and it is earnestly to 

 be hoped that our own expedition, about proceeding to the 

 Pacific Ocean for a somewhat similar purpose, will not be far 

 behindhand in its preparations. The results of such explo- 

 rations as those referred to will be looked forward to with 

 interest by the entire scientific community, and will undoubt- 

 edly add greatly to our knowledge of the past and present 

 of life upon the globe. 



DREDGING IX ICELAND. 



An account is given in the Magazine of Natural History, 

 by Verkruzen, of a dredging excursion to Iceland, in June 

 and July of 1872. His labors were prosecuted in the Bay 



