J^O. 2.] WHITEAVES — ON DEEP-SEA DREDGING. 99 



miles below Quebec, Principal Dawson has dredged quite a large 

 series of Labrador marine invertebrates ; but how much further 

 up the stream these salt-water denizens extend, we have yet to 

 learn. 



North of the Bay of Chaleurs the fauna of the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence has a purely arctic character. The species of which 

 it is composed are remarkable alike for their geological antiquity 

 and for their wide range of geographical distribution In time, 

 a few of them date back to as ancient periods as the Coralline 

 •and Red Cras's, and a much laro;er number occur in the Post- 

 pliocene deposits of both Europe and North America. It is 

 •curious to observe that species which are found both living on the 

 American coast to-day and fossil in the European Pliocene and 

 Postpliocene, had a diiferent geographical range in former times 

 from that which they are known to have now. Many of these 

 arctic marine invertebrates are circumpolur in their distribution 

 and not only inhabit both sides of the Atlantic, but are also found 

 in the Northern Pacific. The preceding generalizations refer 

 almost exclusively to the assemblage of marine animals charac- 

 teristic of comparatively shallow water, the members of which 

 range in depth from low-water mark up to about 50 fathoms. 



The deep-water fauna, at least that of the localities examined, 

 is also decidedly arctic, but it has at the same time a much more 

 Scandinavian aspect. Nearly all of the species which are now 

 for the first time recorded as inhabitants of the Atlantic coast of 

 America occur also in the seas of the north of Scotland, of Nor- 

 way, and Spitzbergen, There is a striking similarity between the 

 ■series of fossils from the Quaternary deposits of Norway (as 

 catalogued by Sars) and the marine invertebrates of the deepest 

 parts of the St. Lawrence. Pennatulce, Ctenodiscus, Trijyylus 

 (^Schizaste?') fragilis, OjjJiiogli/jjha Sarsii, together with many 

 species of mollusks, are common to both. Still it must be borne 

 in mind that in the Quaternary deposits of Norwtiy a number of 

 characteristic European invertebrates occur, which, so far as we 

 know, do not live on the western side of the Atlantic. 



In the River and Grulf of St, Lawrence, generally sp3akiug, the 

 number of species of marine animals which may be collected at 

 or above low-water mark is very small ; few specimens, apparently, 

 are washed ashore by storms. But there is a constant tendency 

 in the opposite direction ; littoral and shallow-water forms are 

 constantly being drifted down to lower levels, particularly shells 



