THE PLANKTON 



OF 



THE SOUTH AFRICAN SEAS. 



MY 



P. T. CLEVE. 



I.— COPEPODA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Some time ago Dr. Gilchrist suggested that I should examine 

 the samples of plankton collected in the South African Seas 

 during the Government's survey of that region. I accepted the 

 proposal with pleasure as this region has a certain bearing on 

 some oceanographical questions in which I am particularly 

 interested. The first set of samples had, with one exception, 

 been obtained by means of a comparatively coarse tow-net 

 fastened on the beam of the trawl. They contained almost 

 exclusively animals, schizopoda, amphipoda, sagittae, tomop- 

 teris and a large amount of copepoda. I intend to give in the 

 following a report on the latter, and hope later on to be able to 

 give an account of the halocyprida and the chaetognatha. 



The region of South Africa is of the greatest interest in its 

 planktonological aspect, as it represents a battlefield of two 

 mighty currents of different origin, the Agulhas Current and 

 the Westwind Drift. The former carries the warm water of the 

 Indian Equatorial Current towards the south, the latter the 

 water of the Southern Pacific Ocean through the space between 

 Fuegia and the Antarctic Continent. 



The east coast of South Africa has a steep slope so that 

 depths of 900 to 3000 metres (500 to 1800 fathoms) will be found 

 at a short distance from the land. On the south side, from 

 about Algoa Bay to the Cape of Good Hope, extends the 

 triangular Agulhas Bank, its southern point being about 2 

 degrees of latitude south of Cape Infanta. The depths in this 

 region are comparatively small, as a rule 70 to 100 metres (4a 

 to 60 fathoms). 



B 



