352 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Aral, the Black Sea, and the Northern Ocean, but those with 

 the Arctic Ocean are more recent than with the Black Sea, in 

 which the seal, the coregonus, and other species common to 

 the Caspian and the Arctic Ocean do not exist. It has been 

 inferred from the phenomena observed that in the tertiary 

 period there was a large but closed fresh-water basin in Eu- 

 rope and Western Asia, which, by volcanic elevation of the 

 earth's crust, was divided into several smaller basins, such as 

 the Black Sea and Aral-Caspian. At that time the water of 

 the Arctic Ocean broke into the Caspian, and having still a 

 connection with the Black Sea, though a slight one, a few 

 animals, and only a few, reached the sea from the latter. 



The Caspian, however, according to Professor Grimm, not 

 only received species from the Arctic Ocean, but has also 

 furnished some to it, especially the sterlet {Acipenser ruthe- 

 nas). As a general rule, in the Caspian Sea the abundance 

 of individuals replaces the abundance of species, and many 

 of the mollusks described by Eichwald as sub-fossil were 

 found living, and not smaller than their extinct relatives. 

 The deepest parts of the sea were inhabited most abundant- 

 ly, and by quite different species from those at the depth of 

 only a few fathoms. In Professor Grimm's opinion, the Oxus 

 of the ancients at one period unquestionably flowed into the 

 Caspian Sea. 18 A, September 3, 1875, 626. 



GIGANTIC MARINE WORM. 



Dr. Carl Mobius, an eminent German zoologist, of Kiel, has 

 been engaged for some time in the exploration of the Mau- 

 ritius and of the waters adjacent; and according to a letter 

 received by Captain Nicholas Pike, of New York, from Ed- 

 ward Newton, Dr. Mobius has lately discovered a marine 

 worm 300 yards in length ! 



DOMESTICATED ANIMALS AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 



It is an interesting fact in the history of the domestication 

 of animals among the ancients, that the Egyptians bred sev- 

 eral species, and kept them in large numbers, which are not 

 now employed in any part of the world. Among these are 

 the Addax and Beisa antelopes, the gazelle, or Dorcas ante- 

 lope, and the Kobe antelope. The evidence of this is found, 

 together with much else connected with the history of the 



