F. GEOGRAPHY. 255 



region a few clays the vessel will proceed to Sydney, and, if 

 necessary, dock there. 



Leaving Sydney about the middle of May, 1874, a line of 

 soundings will be made to New Zealand, and the Coral Sea 

 'and Torres Strait, etc., will be examined in August; while 

 New Caledonia, New Guinea, Arofura Sea, Kaepang in Timor, 

 Java Sea, Macassar, Celebes, and Manilla will, it is expected, 

 be successively visited by November. Then the doubtful 

 islands of the South Pacihc will be looked up, New Ireland 

 and the Solomon and Pelew Islands visited, reaching Japan 

 in March, 1875. From Japan the passage will be made 

 across to Vancouver's Island, thence to Valparaiso, which 

 will be left in the end of 1875; and, passing through the 

 Strait of Magellan to the Falkland Isles, the route will be 

 by way of Rio Janeiro and Ascension to England, by the 

 middle of 1876. 12 A, February 19, 1S74, 304.^ 



NOTES OF THE " CHALLENGER" MOVEMENTS. 



An important communication has lately been made by Pro- 

 fessor Wyville Thomson, chief of the scientific force of the 

 Challenger, to Admiral Richards, of the British Hydrographic 

 Service. This was written from Melbourne on the 17th of 

 March, and contains later details in regard to the discoveries 

 of the Challenger than had heretofore been announced. Aft- 

 er leaving the Cape of Good Hope, about Christmas-time, 

 nineteen principal stations had been visited up to the time 

 of writing, including Marion Island, the neighborhood of the 

 Crozets, Kerguelen Landj and the Heard group. The dredg- 

 ings made just after leaving the Cape revealed an abundance 

 of animal life, with the interesting fact that the general char- 

 acter of the fauna was very similar to that of the North At- 

 lantic, many of the species even being identical with those on 

 the coast of Great Britain and Norway. 



The use of the trawl at a depth of 1600 fathoms, between 

 Prince Edward's Island and the Crozets, yielded a large 

 number of marine objects. Among them were the sponges 

 JEuplectella and ITyalonema, and two entirely new genera 

 of stalked crinoids, some remarkable crustaceans, etc. Off 

 Christmas Harbor, in Kerguelen Land, the trawl brought up 

 large cup sponges of the genus Hossella. 



The most southern station was made on the 14th of Feb- 



