634 DEPTHS OF THE OCEAN chap. 



and the Faroe-Shetland channel. Johs. Schmidt first drew 

 attention to this community. Salpa fusiforjuis, the larval 

 actinia Arachnactis albida (the distribution of which is shown 

 in Fig. 480), the barnacles Lepas pectmata and L. fasciathiris, 

 young stages of the thread-like fish Fierasfer, Nerophis cEquoreiis, 

 larvae of the common eel and scopelidse iyMyctophum glaciale 

 and M. pitnctatum) ozQMX here in great numbers. Excepting 

 the salpse, the barnacles and the leptocephali, which also 

 occur in the warm Atlantic, all these forms live in what may be 



Fig. 480. — DiSTRTBUTION OF Arachx 



called a transitional area between the Atlantic and the Nor- 

 wegian Sea. 



The conditions of temperature in this bathymetrical region 

 are shown in Figs. 159, p. 227, and 160, p. 228 (surface 

 temperature for February and August), and In Fig. 312, p. 445 

 (temperature at 100 metres). Comparing these charts with the 

 current chart in Chapter X., we obtain a good impression 

 of the currents of the North Atlantic. The warm Gulf Stream, 

 originating in the Gulf of Mexico, follows the east coast of the 

 United States towards the Banks of Newfoundland, where it 

 divides into several branches. A northern branch appears to run 

 towards Davis Strait, partly as an undercurrent. An eastern 

 branch runs towards the Azores and, spreading out like a fan, 



