Information respecting Zoological ^ Botanical Travellers. 349 



peared in the morning or midday, however fine or calm the sea might 

 be ; but towards sunset they became more numerous. Salpa, some 

 single, and some united together in long chains, were by no means 

 uncommon ; sometimes very numerous towards the close of day ; and 

 the opportunity was not lost of observing the habits and structure of 

 those interesting mollusca, of which four or five species have been 

 caught. In the beginning of the night, when the sea was smooth, 

 the curious animal named by Forskahl Salpa democratica, came to 

 the surface in considerable numbers, and the microscopic examination 

 of them has furnished some interesting results. About the same time, 

 Pteropoda, chiefly an acicular species belonging to Rang's genus 

 Criseis, were taken in the tow-net, and numerous minute Crustacea. 

 The Pteropods taken gave me an opportunity of observing some points 

 in their organization under a high power whilst the creatures were 

 alive. I found the respiratory organ in the form of a curved pro- 

 cess, projecting from the right side of the neck and clothed with 

 large vibratile cilia. There were no cilia on their wing-like fins, 

 but in some species there were rows of minute prickles regularly 

 arranged. One morning six shells of a species of Atlanta were 

 found in the tow-net, but the animals had perished. 



On Wednesday, the 28th, we entered the fine bay of Navarino, 

 and remained there three days, which were fairly divided between 

 Zoology, Geology and Botany. The first was given to fossil-gather- 

 ing on the tertiary banks which line the bay. These banks are full 

 of well-preserved fossils, and during our short visit they yielded 

 us fifty species of Testacea and several Echinidse. Beds of beautiful 

 amber were not uncommon in the tertiary, but where the amber 

 prevailed there were no fossils. Generally the clay was reddish, 

 and there the larger Zoophaga, the Arcse, and the Oysters were most 

 abundant: here and there were tracts of a dark blue clay, in which 

 NaticcE, Cerithia, Dentalia, Corbula Nucleus and Ringicula, with a 

 species of Mytilus, were associated together. In one limited spot, 

 a beautiful species of Neritina, with all its colours as vivid as if re- 

 cent, was not uncommon. It was possibly a freshwater species, 

 washed by some ancient stream into the ancient sea. As an able 

 ally, Mr. Spratt, one of the Beacon's oflicers, had previously col* 

 lected the same species in Rhodes, associated with Paludina clathrata 

 and a Unio. The abundance of Rissoae in some places indicated a 

 weedy bottom, and such parts as contained Echinidce were harder 

 than the others, containing few shells, and presenting the appearance 

 of consolidated sand, as we might look for on seeing its inhabitants. 

 A day's dredging, and a search along the shore, turned up fifty-one 

 living Testacea and three naked Mollusca, one of them a very beau- 

 tiful little blue Doris. The number, state, etc. of the products were 

 duly registered in the dredging papers of the Association. In the 

 deeper parts of the bay the bottom was muddy, and it was interest- 

 ing to find the same or representative species associated together in 

 the mud which were grouped in the corresponding portion of the 

 Pliocene. Only sixteen of the recent inhabitants of the bay were 

 identical with the fossil species collected the day before. 



