CRUISES OF THE "MICHAEL SARS " 103 



temperature readings down to a depth of 4850 metres. We 

 were interested to discover that the bottom temperature was 

 only sHghtly under 2^° C, and thus exactly agreed with what 

 we had previously found in the eastern basin. 



During the night several flying-fish came on board, and in 

 the morning we again saw small patches of the Sargasso weed. Sargasso 

 Gran came to the conclusion that these patches must be much ^^^^' 

 younger, or, rather, that they have drifted for a shorter 

 time, than the ones found farther east. They had long 

 vigorous shoots, which reached higher up above the water 

 than the older growths, and it was easy to tell the top in every 

 patch. In the older growths, which had been drifting about for 

 a long time, the shoots in every direction were more stunted, 

 and the patches became mere tangled masses of weed and lay 

 deeper in the water. We found on them the ordinary small 

 crabs {Planes mijiutus), needle-fish {Syngnatktcs pelagicus), frog- 

 fish [Antennarius), molluscs, compound ascidians, and hydroids 

 (see Plates V. and VI., Chapter X.). 



Station 64 was one of our most successful stations. The 

 pelagic appliances were lowered in the morning between 

 6.30 A.M. and 9 A.M., and hauled in from 2.30 p.m. to 5 p.m., 

 with excellent results. In the surface layers we secured a 

 quantity of fish-eggs, including various stages of the eggs of 

 scombresocids, tiny young fish with stalk-eyes, two small eel 

 larvae (4.1 cm. and 4.8 cm. long), a number of remarkable 

 cuttle-fish, and three small leptocephali (1.7 cm., 1.7 cm., and 

 2.1 cm. in length), all differing in appearance. They cannot 

 belong to the larvae of the common eel, because they have too 

 many muscle segments (over 130). 



In deep water we got the same familiar forms in unusually 

 large quantities. The following table shows the numbers of 

 the species most commonly occurring, belonging to the genus 

 Cyclotkone : — 



Light-coloured, Dark-coloured, 

 Cyclothone signata. C. nncrodoii. 



Young-fish trawl at 500 metres . 1240 214 (small individuals) 



„ ,, 1000 „ . 82 448 



,, ,, 1500 ,, . 22 322 



1344 984 



Thus of the two species we were able to preserve more 

 than 2000 individuals ; we endeavoured to keep all that were 

 brought on board, but a good many were damaged by the 

 apparatus, and had to be thrown away. 



