MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 385 



in which they live, there are other connections to be traced besides 

 those arising from descent or the struggle for existence. 



I have reasons for supposing that the investigation of the Gulf 

 Stream, as presented in former Reports of the Coast Survey, has not 

 yet reached its easternmost boundary. It was natural that the earlier 

 explorations should have stopped where the great current no longer 

 exhibits its characteristic peculiarities, and that its eastern range 

 should have been traced with less minuteness than its alternate streaks 

 of warm and cold water nearer shore. But now that the influence of 

 the Gulf Stream upon the geographical distribution of organized beings 

 appears distinctly as one of its most characteristic, though least sus- 

 pected features, it will be necessary to extend the survey farther out 

 into the Atlantic Ocean. 



For the present I would suggest the following lines for soundings 

 and dredgings : — 



1°. One line from the Atlantic coast in Georgia or South Carolina to 

 deep water, outside the range of the Gulf Stream, chiefly with a view 

 of tracing the northern limits of the fauna of Florida. 



2°. One line from the Atlantic coast in North Carolina or Virginia to 

 the Bermudas and beyond ; with the special view of connecting the 

 deep-water fauna of the Gulf .Stream with the shore fauna of these 

 islands and that of our own coast, upon which Cape Hatteras marks 

 the limits between two natural zoological littoral provinces. 



3°. One line from Cape Cod or from the coast of Maine, in a south- 

 east direction, across the Gulf Stream, with the special view of ascer- 

 taining the boundaries between the shore fauna and that of the Gulf 

 Stream at this latitude. This line would afford the means of extensive 

 comparisons with our Acadian fauna, which has already been care- 

 fully explored as far as Grand Manan by Dr. Stimpson, Prof. Verrill, 

 and myself. Shorter lines from Sandy Hook to the trough of the 

 Guif Stream would add much value to the results obtained by 

 dredgings from the coast of Massachusetts or Maine across the Gulf 

 Stream. 



I would also recommend one line across the Caribbean Sea, from Cu- 

 mana or LaGuayra to Porto Rico, and one outside of the Small 

 Antilles from the mouth of the Orinoco to Antigua ; with the special 

 view of ascertaining the area over which the mud deposits of the 

 Orinoco spread, and how far they affect the Caribbean Sea. 



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