LTN'XEAX SOCIETr OF LOXDOK. 29 



extended to the slope of the Bank of N'ewfouudland and into the 

 Bay of Biscay. The publication of the results is in progress, 

 a magnificent series of volumes ; and it is from them that (with 

 the kind assistance of my friend W. E. Hoyle) I have gathered 

 the position of some of his biologically noteworthy stations, 41 

 in number : this number would be greatly increased, if a suffi- 

 ciently detailed list of them were prepared and published. 



A short cruise, which was as well executed as it was planned,- 

 viz. that of the Frr^nch steamer ' Caudan,' brings the review of the 

 Deep-sea work in this section down to the present day. Professor 

 Kohler, of the University of Lyons, obtained the loan of this 

 steamer from his Government for a fortnight's cruise in the Bay 

 of Biscay. His work exactly fills a gap between the erounds 

 explored by the ' Porcupine ' and by the ' Travailleur.' He kept 

 as much as possible to the continental slope, trawling between 

 100 and 1300 fathoms at 25 stations. Scarcely a year has 

 elapsed, and the results of this short cruise are already before us 

 in a handsome volume of 741 pages and 39 plates, containing 

 valuable contributions to almost every class of marine animals. 

 Of particular interest is the discovery in the deep sea of a bathybial 

 tribe of Acari, called Halacari. Some of them were found at 

 820 fathoms ; and that these creatures really live in deep water, 

 and have not accidentally entered the trawl during its passage 

 through the surface waters, is proved by M. Trouessart from 

 their organization. Some are blind, others provided with 

 eyes. 



Finally, I have shortly to refer to the experiments made by 

 Dr. C. Chun * in this section of the Atlantic with his specially 

 constructed deep-sea towing-net, in order to prove the existence 

 of free-swimming animals in the so-called intermediate waters. 

 Dr. Chun used this net on a voyage to and near the Canary 

 Islands in depths varying between 300 and 900 fathoms, and 

 came to the conclusion that such an intermediate fauna exists, 

 thus confirming an opinion which, based upon his experience 

 during the ' Challenger ' expedition, has been distinctly main- 

 tained by John Murray, and, more recently, by the Prince of 

 Monaco. Professor A. Agassiz t, who, as we shall see subse- 

 quently, has paid deep attention to this question, and holds the 

 opposite view, has challenged the correctness of Chun's con- 

 clusion, on account of imperfection in Ciiun's apparatus and 

 because the experiments had been made under the influence of 

 all the disturbing elements of a not very distant coast-lme. 



The Mediteeraneajs'. 



Also in this area we find that fishermen knew of the existence 

 of animal life in the Deep Sea long before the question was 

 discussed by the learned of our century. Eisso, who pub- 

 lished in 1826 the third volume of his 'Histoire naturelle de 



* SB. Bprlin Akad. xxx. 1889. p. 519. 



t Bull. Mas, Comp. Zool. xxiii. 1892, no. 1, p. 23. 



