274 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



seen floating on the water by thousands, while the beach is strewn with 

 their bones, especially their bristling jaws, which render walking bare- 

 foot on the borders of lagoons extremely dangerous." 



MARINE LIFE AT GREAT DEPTHS. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, Mr. 

 Marcou observed, in regard to deep sea-soundings, that a Norwegian 

 naturalist had recently obtained, by means of the same instruments 

 used by Capt. McClintock and Dr. Wallich, between Cape North and 

 Spitzbergen, living animals from a depth of 8400 feet (more than a mile 

 and a half;) at this depth, where the temperature was only three-tenths of 

 a degree centigrade (nearly the freezing point), were found living pol- 

 yps, mussels, tunicata, annelides, and bright-colored crustaceans. The 

 same naturalist had found ammonites (probably Jurassic), and leaves 

 resembling those of the palmetto (probably miocene), at Spitzbergen. 



Mr. M. also referred to some animals which had been drawn up by 

 the broken telegraphic cable between Africa and Marseilles. The 

 Mediterranean is very deep along some portions of this line, even three 

 or four miles ; living acephala, very rare on the coasts, echinoderms of 

 a very beautiful red color, had been drawn up from a depth of two 

 miles, where, probably, no light penetrates. From this and similar 

 instances, previously alluded to, he was led to the opinion that we 

 know very little about the downward extension of submarine animal 

 life. 



Dr. Gould observed that the deep living animals are red or bright 

 colored, while those most exposed to the light, like the clam, are white. 

 He did not think it proved that this cable had ever reached the bottom 

 or the depth indicated ; and we know comparatively little that is cer- 

 tain in regard to the penetration of light to great depths ; still, facts 

 are constantly coming to notice, showing that the range of animals in 

 the marine depths is much greater than was till recently admitted. 



Prof. Agassiz alluded to the beautiful variety of color in the liver of 

 fishes, the "color being even characteristic of genera, though he was un- 

 able to state -upon what structure or secretion the color depended ; the 

 color of the bile has a remarkable uniformity in the class. He stated 

 that, according to Oersted, different rays of light penetrate to different 

 depths in water, green the least and red the deepest. 



Mr. Marcou said ^hat the fact of the more extended distribution in 

 depth of marine animals would have important geological bearings, as 

 changing the views of paleontologists in regard to the necessity of a 

 shore line for many fossil species. 



Dr. Pickering remarked that the clearness of the water made a great 

 difference in the depth to which light will penetrate, though it will 

 certainly penetrate to a considerable depth even in turbid water. 

 Fishes were obtained by Risso from great depths in the basin of Nice, 

 even from 3000 feet, which had the eyes very large. 



BREEDING OF OYSTERS. 



The sowing and breeding of oysters has recently been undertaken 

 by the French Government, upon an extensive scale. The place cho- 

 sen for experimenting is a part of the Bay of St. Brieuc, at a locality 

 where the bottom is a shelly sand, slightly mixed with clay or mud. 



