244 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



February the deepest water on that section was found in 

 longitude 35 11', in the tropics, namely, 3150 fathoms. 

 Scarcely a trace of organic matter was brought up by the 

 dredge. 



On the 14th of March Sombrero was reached, and two days 

 after the Challenger anchored in St. Thomas' harbor, having 

 made twenty-two soundings, thirteen casts of the dredge, and 

 twelve series of temperature-observations between Teneriffe 

 and that point. On the 24th of Marcli the Challenger left 

 St. Thomas, on the third stretch of her voyage, toward Ber- 

 muda, during which passage a sounding of 3875 fathoms was 

 successfully accomplished, and ^he reached Bermuda on the 

 4th of April. In addition to numerous observations on the 

 physics of the sea, an immense amount of new material was 

 secured, bearing on its animal life ; remarkable forms of fish- 

 es, crustaceans, etc., were secured, some of which have been 

 published in detail in the columns oi Nature and other scien- 

 tific journals. 



A special feature in the natural-history work of the Chal- 

 lenger consisted in the successful use of the beam trawl, one 

 of fifteen-feet beam having been tried at a depth of 2125 fath- 

 oms, bringing up some most astonishing results. An accu- 

 mulator of fifty-five strands of rubber was found necessary 

 to preserve the trawl and the dredge from the strain caused 

 by the current and the motion of the sea. 



The Challenger left Bermuda on the 21st, and made an 

 examination of a shoal, which was found to be connected with 

 the main reefs of the island. On the 24th, about forty-five 

 miles to the west of Bermuda, soundings Avere found, in 2650 

 fathoms, of gray ooze, and several temperatures were obtain- 

 ed at various intervals between the surface and the bottom. 

 Under-currents were ascertained as tending east, that at the 

 surface being at the rate of 0.24 of a mile per hour; 0.46 at 

 50 fathoms ; and then diminishing to the depth of 500 fath- 

 oms, where the drift was 0.06 of a mile per hour; and at 600 

 fathoms it was not appreciable. 



In another locality, in a series of experiments made a few 

 days later, the current was found to be north by west at the 

 rate of 0.75 of a mile per hour at the surface, and 0.6 at 

 200 fathoms. Captain Davis, from Avhose article in Ocean 

 Highways we borrow much of our account, thinks that the 



