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Report on the Investigation of British Marine Zoology by 

 means of the Dredge^ Part I. The Infra-littoral Distribu- 

 tion of Marine Invertebrata on the Southern^ Western, and 

 Northern Coasts of Great Britain. By Professor Edward 

 Forbes.* 



This Report, the most important contribution to marine zoology 

 hitherto published, we recommend to the particular attention of 

 naturalists. Although the limited nature of a periodical prevents 

 us publishing the whole report, we are convinced that every lover 

 of zoology will be instructed and gratified by the following obser- 

 vations with which the distinguished author concludes the account 

 of his investigations, and those of his friends, particularly Mr 

 MacAndrew : — 



Plants. — The greater part of these dredgings are beyond the 

 region of the majority of Algse. Between and 10 fathoms nu- 

 merous fuci were taken, olivaceous species prevailing in the lesser 

 depths, red ones in the greater. Delesseria and Desmarestia are 

 the genera of which species were met with at most considerable 

 depths, i. e., at 16 and 18 fathoms (Hebrides). A straggling La- 

 minaria was once taken as deep as 18 fathoms in the Zetlands. 

 Beyond 15 fathoms, and between that depth and 20 fathoms, we 

 have the region of Nullipara. Below 20 fathoms, unless it be an 

 occasional straggling Nullipara, no decided Algse were met with. 



Traces af Vertebrata and Land Animals. — Had we no other 

 evidence of the inhabitants of the sea than that afforded by the con- 

 tents of the dredge, we might be tempted to infer a great rarity — 

 almost amounting to an absence, of vertebrate marine animals within 

 our area. Possibly such an inference would be quite as unwar- 

 rantable as the negative conclusions assumed from comparable ob- 

 servations by many palseontologists and geologists, who sometimes 

 go so far as to infer an entire absence of terrestrial creatures during 

 some of the more ancient geological epochs, because no traces of 

 them can be found in sedimentary strata of marine origin, and an- 

 nounce the laws which regulated the order of creation of animated 



* British animals and plants are distributed in depth in a series of zones or 

 regions which belt our shores from high water mark down to the greatest 

 depth explored. The uppermost of these is the tract between tide-marks ; this 

 is the Littoral Zone. This zone is divided into four sub-zones or regions. To 

 this zone succeeds the Laminarian Zone, which extends to a depth of fifteen 

 fathoms. From fifteen to fifty or more fathoms we have the Coralline Zone. 

 Below fifty fathoms is the zone or region of deep sea corals. — Vide pages 335- 

 337 of vol. 50 of Jameson's Philosophical Journal for details. 



