306 Dr, Wallich on Animal Life, [Jan. 25, 



But even assuming it to be possible that they had drifted to the 

 position in which they were captured, from distant and less profound 

 depths, the fact of their vitality and vigorously healthy condition would 

 be scarcely less extraordinary ; for the distance from the nearest point 

 of land, which is a rock off Iceland, is 250 miles ; whilst the next 

 nearest land, Greenland, is distant no less than 500 miles. But it must 

 be obvious to every one who is at all conversant with the structure of 

 the Ophiocomce and Echinoderms generally, that they are essentially 

 creeping and crawling creatures, and of far too great specific gravity 

 to float at all under any circumstances. 



" Taking into consideration then, the circumstances under which 

 these Ophiocomce were taken, the extreme improbability of their having 

 drifted to the locality in which they were found, from distant and 

 shallower waters ; and lastly, the peculiarities of structure, which 

 render them wholly unfit to float or swim for even a brief period, we 

 should have been fully warranted, I think, in believing that they 

 existed in a living state at the bottom. In order to obtain some clue 

 to the solution of the question, I very carefully dissected and analyzed 

 the contents of the digestive cavity of a specimen, immediately on its 

 being brought up ; and was most amply repaid by the detection of 

 numerous GlohigerincB in every stage of comminution, and with the 

 contained sarcodic matter in greater or lesser quantity. Whilst, 

 therefore, the detection of these organisms in the digestive cavities of 

 the Ophiocomce afforded a most conclusive proof that the Foraminifera 

 were living on the sea bed at the profound depth from which they 

 were obtained ; the fact of the star-fishes being captured with the fresh 

 remains of the Foraminifera in their digestive cavities, proves that their 

 normal habitation is at the same great depth, inasmuch as it has been 

 sufficiently established that the Globigerinse are present only at the 

 bottom. I may mention that, within the past few days, in examining 

 a sample of the Globigerina deposit brought up by a previous sounding 

 on the same spot, I detected some Echinoderm spines, which at once 

 struck me as being identical with those on the Ophiocomse ; and that, 

 on comparison, my surmise proved to be quite correct : a further and 

 very striking proof of the vitality of the Ophiocomae at the bottom 

 being thus afforded." 



[G. C. W.] 



