28 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE 



■proved to be disappointing ; no fishes were enclosed in tlie trawl 

 on these occasions. 



France had so far taken no part in biological Deep-sea 

 exploration, but in the year 1880 a Commission of French 

 Biologists, with Professor A. Milne-Edwards at the head, was 

 appointed, with the object of investigating the Deep Sea of 

 S. -Western Continental Europe. The (rovernment equipped for 

 this purpose two steamers, the ' Travailleur ' and the ' Talisman,' 

 which were engaged in oceanic work from 18S0 to 1883. On 

 these cruises numerous dredging and trawling operations were 

 carried out on the rich continental slope and in the deep-water all 

 along the Western coast of France, in the Bay of Biscay, along 

 the coast of the Pyrenean peninsula, into the western part of the 

 Mediterranean. In 1882 and 1883 the cruise extended southwards 

 to the coast of Morocco and as far as the mouth of the Senegal, 

 finally striking the track of the ' Challenger,' following it past 

 the Azores, and tiieu returning to France. These expeditions, 

 therefore, not only went over ground previously explored or 

 traxersed by the 'Porcupine' and ' Challenger,' but filled blanks 

 left by the British expeditions, more especially along the West 

 coast of Africa and in the Bay of Biscay. 



Although lists of hydrographical stations have been published, 

 as a rule no distinction has been made between mere soundings or 

 vinsucctssful dredgings and those stations at which zoological col- 

 lections and observations have been made. However, on the whole, 

 the zoologic-al results must have been eminently satisfactory, 

 as is evident from the iinjjortant reports on Fishes, Brachiopods, 

 Eehinoderms, which have been published. In 89 hauls of the trawl 

 .3407 specimens of fish were obtained; even at as great a depth as 

 1870 fathoms 28 fishes were caught. The abundance of fish-life 

 in certain localities was demonstrated by a haul in 250 fathoms 

 near the Cape Verd Islands, when 935 fishes belonging to 12 

 species were brought to the surface. 



The experience of these cruises confirmed also a fact which I 

 had ascertained from the ' Challenger ' collection, viz. that a fish 

 when once physiologically adapted to the conditions of bathybial 

 lite, may descend, or may be found to have spread, to the greatest 

 depths. Thus M. VailLint records that an Eel {Synaphohranchus 

 vittatus), which may safely be considered to be a fish living at the 

 bottom, was caught at 25 different stations, varying in depth 

 from 116 to 11)90 fathoms: a bathymetricd range wliich nearly 

 coincides with the experience made by the ' Challenger.' 



The next important contribution to our knowledge of this part 

 of the Atlantic Deep-sea fauna has been made by the Prince of 

 Monaco who, for many years past, has devoted much of his leisure 

 and wealth to oceanic investigation. In his hands the mechanical 

 Apparatus, wliich had been much improved by American explorers, 

 has been still more perfected, and by using traps at very great 

 depths he has succeeded in capturing animals which hitherto 

 have eluded the trawl. His explorations were carried on chiefly 

 in the Mediterranean and in the neighbourhood of the Azores, and 



