OF CONCHOLOQY. 31 



I will not here repeat what I have already published* on this in- 

 teresting subject ; but I may add that all the animals recorded 

 as living at great depth are zoophagous, none of them phytopha- 

 gous. The deep-sea dredgings of the Swedish Expedition to 

 Spitzbergen in 1861 yielded some valuable results. Adjunct 

 Professor Thorell and Professor Keferstein communicated some 

 short and imperfect notices to the northern journals ; but Pro- 

 fessor Loven has lately given us fuller information, which is pub- 

 lished in the ' Transactions of Scandinavian Naturalists ' at their 

 ninth meeting held in 1863. f A Brooke's lead and a ' Bulldog ' 

 machine, with several improvements, were used on this occasion. 

 Depths from 6000 to 8400 feet (1000-1409 fathomsj) were thus 

 explored. The sea-bottom at these depths was covered with a 

 fine greasy-feeling material of a yellow-brownish or grey color, 

 rich in DiatomacefB§ and Polythalamia, and nearly devoid of 

 sand. Professor Loven was furnished with the notes of INIessrs. 

 Chydenius and Malmgren, made during the expedition, and with 

 all the animals discovered in those great depths. The latter 

 comprised: — Annelida, viz., species <■{ Spiochcetopterus and Cir- 

 ratulus ; Crustacea, viz., a Cuma wlich appeared to be indenti- 

 cal with C. ruhicunda, Lilljeborg, and an Apseudes ; MoUusca, 

 viz., a Cylichna ; Gephyrea, viz., a fragment of Myriotrochus 

 Mmki, Steenstrup, and anothet allied form with large and fewer 

 star-wheels, and of smaller wheels of the 3Iyriotrochus-tj\)e ; a 

 species of Sipunculus resembling jS. margaritaceus, Sars ; and, 

 lastly, a sponge, in which were found a Copepod or Ostracod, 

 and a fragment of a Cuma resembling C. nasica. In the opinion 

 of Loven these animals indicate, so far as can be judged by so 

 small a number, that in the abysses of the glacial seas there lives 

 a fauna which does not greatly differ from that which lives on 

 the same kind of bottom at much less depths. Proceeding up- 

 wards to the surface, from 50 or 60 fathoms the regions or zones 

 have a greater variety of animals, even over the same kind of 

 bottom. Taking this into consideration, and also recollecting 

 that in the Antarctic seas, at measurable depths, there are forms 

 of Mollusca and Crustacea which exhibit partly generic, partly 

 almost specific identity with northern and hyperborean forms, 



* British Conchology, vol. i. Intr. pp. xlviii-1, and vol. ii. Intr. pp. 

 viii-xi. 



t Stockholm, 1865 : p. 384. 



X The Swedish foot makes only 0-974 English foot. The Scandinavian 

 fathom is 6 feet. 



? This does not quite agree with the accounts of Wallich and Sars, 

 which give 400 fathoms as the limit of vegetable life ; but it does not ap- 

 pear that the Diatomacese observed by Loven had actually lived on the 

 sea bottom. They might have been pelagic and floating kinds. 



