86 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. VU. 



NOTES ON A DEEP-SEA DREDGING EXPEDITION 

 ROUND THE ISLAND OF ANTICOSTI, IN THE 

 GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE. 



By J. F. Whiteaves, F.G.S. 



The following article is to a large extent a reproduction of one 

 contributed to the "Annals of Natural History" for November, 

 1872. The results of nearly a year's additional study of the 

 specimens collected are, however, incorporated into the present 

 sketch. 



No dredging operations have ever been conducted in the 

 deepest parts of the River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, so far as I 

 can learn, until the summer of 1871. In 1867 and 1869 I 

 dredged in upwards of fifty different localities north of the 

 Bay of Chaleurs, but never in deeper water than 50 fathoms. 

 The researches of Dr. Packard and others on the coast of 

 Labrador, those of Principal Dawson, Prof. Bell, &c. in the 

 Gaspe district, together with those of Mr. Willis in the seas of 

 Nova Scotia, were all carried on in comparatively shallow water. 

 On several occasions I have called the attention of the Natural 

 History Society of Montreal to the importance, from a scientific 

 point of view, of a careful investigation into the nature of the 

 animal and vegetable life of the greater depths of the Gulf, which 

 seemed to me to promise a rich harvest of new facts. 



A committee was appointed to petition the Dominion Govern- 

 ment to allow qualified observers facilities for deep-sea dredging 

 on board government vessels. Principal Dawson also, as 

 President of the Society, represented to the Honourable the 

 Minister of Marine and Fisheries the practical value of, and the 

 useful results that might accrue from, such inquiries, and met 

 with the most liberal response. The desired facilities on board 

 government cruisers were at once promised, the necessary rope 

 was provided, and no efforts were spared to make the cruises 

 successful. I was deputed by the Natural-History Society to 

 undertake the management of the expedition, and left Montreal 

 early in July, 1871. My friend Mr. G. T. Kennedy, M.A., of 

 Montreal, a skilful! zoologist, started with me, but returned after 

 he had been a few days at sea. 



