F. GEOGRAPHY. 139 



circle. Magnetic observations were made on a small scale, 

 and in a table we find a statement of the absolute magnetic 

 declination, the absolute inclination and horizontal intensity, 

 and the total intensity at the fort. 



WHITEAVES'S EXPLORATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE. 



Among other scientific explorations referred to in the " Sci- 

 entific Intelligence," as promised during the past summer, was 

 one about to be undertaken in the* way of deep-sea dredging 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by Mr. J. F. Whiteaves, in the 

 interest of the Natural History Society of Montreal. We 

 find in a late number of Nature a report of his labors from 

 this gentleman, from which it seems that the investigation 

 lasted for a period of five weeks, the first three of which were 

 spent on the schooner La Canaclienne, and the remaining two 

 on the Stella Maris. The area examined included an entire 

 circuit round the island of Anticosti, and extended from Point 

 des Monts (on the north shore of the St. Lawrence) to a spot 

 about half way between the east end of Anticosti and the 

 Bird Rocks. As these investigations were almost necessari- 

 ly subordinate to the special duties on which the schooners 

 were engaged, in several cases the same ground was gone 

 over twice. 



The bottom, at great depths, was found to consist of a 

 tough, clayey mud, with occasional large stones on the sur- 

 face. Temperature observations do not seem to have been 

 made with very precise instruments, but, as far as ascertained, 

 the mud at this depth was about 37 to 38 F. In the deep- 

 est part of the river, on the south shore, the temperature was 

 a little higher. Sand dredged on the north shore in 25 fath- 

 oms also made the mercury sink to 37 or 38. The princi- 

 pal explorations were prosecuted in a depth of from 250 to 

 300 fathoms. The maximum sounding observed by the gov- 

 ernment surveying parties, however, west of Newfoundland, 

 is 313 fathoms. 



Numerous species of marine invertebrates were obtained, 

 of which twenty-four species of mollusca occurred at depths 

 of from 90 to 200 fathoms. Nearly all of these are arctic 

 forms, and eleven of them are new to the continent of Amer- 

 ica. Three species of brachiopods were found. The close 

 similarity of the deep-sea fauna of the Gulf of St. Lawrence 



