348 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



at great depths, would, of itself alone, account for their perfect state 

 of preservation. 



During the recent survey of the North Atlantic I found that, in 

 certain localities where the Globigerina deposit was of the purest kind 

 and in the greatest plenty, the specimens from the immediate surface 

 stratum of the sea bed alone retained their normal appearance, both 

 as reo-ards the perfect state of the sarcodic contents of the shells and 

 the presence of the pseudopodia. The latter organs were never seen 

 by me in an extended condition, but, in the specimens alluded to, and 

 in those only, occurred as minute bosses, resembling in shape the 

 rounded rivet-heads on boilers-, closely appressed to the external sur- 

 face of the shell ; whereas, in specimens from the sub-stratum, the 

 color was much duskier, and these bosses we're absent. And, further, 

 in these pure deposits the shells were to be found in every gradation, 

 from the single chamber, of microscopic minuteness, hyaline trans- 

 parency, and extreme thinness, to the dense zeolite-like structure of 

 the many-chambered mature shells, which are large enough to be 

 readily distinguished by the naked eye. These facts, when taken in 

 conjunction with the entire absence of the varied remains of other 

 organized structures found in localities where the Globigerinaa are 

 only scantily represented, afford, as I conceive, all but the direct 

 proof, which can only be arrived at on witnessing locomotion, or the 

 protrusion and retraction of the pseudopodia of the organisms in 

 question. 



Most fortunately, as it happened, this collateral evidence was ren- 

 dered doubly conclusive by other proofs of a most unexpected and 

 interesting kind. Before entering on these, I may state that the sub- 

 stratum, spoken of as differing in aspect from the immediate surface- 

 layer, is nevertheless identical in composition ; the difference in color 

 arising simply from decay. It contains no living Foraminifera ; for 

 the minute particles of matter becoming gradually condensed and 

 aggregated together by molecular affinity, and the enormous super- 

 incumbent pressure exerting itself only in one direction, that is, 

 vertically, its permeability by fluids is thus completely destroyed, and 

 it is compacted into a dense mass of far too unyielding a nature to 

 admit of its being traversed by living creatures of any kind. As the 

 Foraminifera die off, their shells and decaying contents, together 

 with the minute particles of amorphous matter associated with them, 

 go to build up the calcareous strata of the earth's crust. I would 

 mention that, in order to determine whether the Globigerinae live as 

 free floating forms in the mid-strata of water, I attached a small open- 

 mouthed bag, at about two hundred fathoms from the extreme end of 

 the sounding-line, in a locality where the species was most abundant 

 in the deposit, and brought it up through nearly five thousand feet 

 of water, without securing a single shell. 



But by far the most important and interesting discovery remains 

 to be noticed, namely, the detection of a high order of radiate ani- 

 mal, in a living state, at a depth of a mile and a half below the surface 

 of the sea. 



In sounding midway, in the direct line between Cape Farewell, the 

 southern point of Greenland, and the north-west coast of Ireland, in 

 lat. 59 27' N. and long. 26 41' W., the depth being twelve hun- 



