tl ■ THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



I must, however, confess at the close of my work that my original intention is far from 

 having been fulfilled. The extraordinary extent and varied difficulties of the undertaking 

 must excuse the many deficiencies. 



The special examination of the Challenger collection was for the most part completed 

 in the summer of 1881 ; I collected its results in my Entwurf eines Radiolarien- Systems 

 auf Grund von Studien der Challenger-Radiolarien (Jenaische Zeitschr. f. Naturw., 

 Bd. XV., 1881). Since the manuscript of this preliminary communication was completed 

 only a few days before my departure for Ceylon, and since I was unable to correct the 

 proofs myself, several errors have crept into the Prodromus Systematis Radiolarium 

 included in it. These have been corrected in the following more extensive working out 

 of it. Even at that time I had distinguished 630 genera and more than 2000 species ; 

 but on the revision of these, which I undertook immediately on my return from India, 

 this number was considerably increased. The total number of forms here described 

 amounts to 739 genera and 4318 species; of these 3508 are new, as against 810 previously 

 described. In spite of this large number, however, and in spite of the astonishing 

 variety of the new and marvellous forms, the riches of the Challenger collection are by 

 no means exhausted. A careful and patient worker who would devote a second decade 

 to the work, would probably increase the number of new forms (especially of the smaller 

 ones) by more than a thousand ; but for a really complete examination, the lifetime of 

 one man would not suffice. 



The richest source of the Challenger material is the Radiolarian ooze of the central 

 Pacific Ocean (Stations 265 to 274). This remarkable deep-sea mud consists for the greater 

 part of well-preserved siliceous shells of Polycystina (Spumellaria and Nassellaria). 

 Not less important, however, especially for the study of the Acantharia and Ph^odaria, 

 are the wonderful preparations stained with carmine and mounted in Canada balsam on 

 the spot by Dr. John Murray. One such preparation {e.g., from Station 271) often 

 contains twenty or thirty, sometimes even fifty new species. In many of these preparations 

 the individual parts of the unicellular organism are so well preserved that they show 

 clearly the characteristic peculiarities of the legions and orders. Since the material for 

 tliese preparations was taken with the tow-net, not only from the surface of the sea but 

 also from difi'erent bathymetrical zones, it furnishes valuable conclusions regarding the 

 chorology, as weU as the physiology and morphology of the group. For many new 

 discoveries I am indebted to the study of such preparations, of which I have examined 

 about a thousand from 168 different Stations (compare § 240). In addition to these 

 about 100 bottles were handed to me, containing partly bottom-deposits, partly tow-net 

 gatherings. 



Sir Wyville Thomson, who dii-ected the investigations of the Challenger with so much 

 devotion, and only partly saw its results, has laid me under a deep debt of obligation ; 

 not less is this the case, however, ■with his successor. Dr. John Murray. I am especially 



