LINNEAN" SOCIETY OF LONDOIS". 45 



In 1891-92 surveying work brought Capt. Tanner in the 

 ' Albatross ' into this area. He made several successful hauls on 

 the western side of the Sandwich Islands, and used the inter- 

 mediate tow-net on the passage from San Francisco. The results, 

 like so many other collections made by this indefatigable 

 explorer, have not yet been made known. 



The South Pacific. 



I include under this heading the work done by the ' Challenger ' 

 between the Southern Tropic and the 50th parallel, adding the 

 stations in Magelhaen's Straits and other passages on the West 

 Coast of South America. In the western jDart of this area (that 

 is between Sydney and Cook's Straits, and between New Zealand 

 and Kermadec) eight successful deep-sea stations are noted, of 

 which those in the neighbourhood of land were very productive. 

 The eastern part was traversed from east to west, the hauls being 

 at first in very deep water as in the preceding area and of the 

 same character. As Juan Fernandez and the coast of South 

 America were approached, the number of animals captured 

 increased, sliowing more and more an Arctic character, especially 

 in the deep channels intersecting the southern end of the Conti- • 

 nent, littoral types being mixed with deep-water forms. The 

 number of successful hauls was twenty-two. 



Also the ' Hassler ' and 'Albatross,' on their voyage to the 

 Pacific, dredged in the track of the ' Challenger ' along the Straits 

 of Magelhaen and along the coast of Patagonia and Southern 

 Chile, but, apparently, without results deserving special notice *. 



The Indian Oceak. 



For our first knowledge of the Deep-sea fauna of the Indian 

 Ocean, we are indebted to the Indian Marine Survey and the 

 officers who on board the steamer ' Investigator ' combined bio- 

 logical research wdth their hydrographical work — Commanders 

 A. Carpenter, R. F. Hoskyn, and C. F. Oldham, and last, but not 

 least, to Mr. A. Aleock. From a list of stations kindly supplied to 

 me by the last-named gentleman, I see that in 1885 and 1886 

 severally one haul was successful, in 1887 five, in 1888 nine, in 1889 

 nine, in 1890 twenty, seveuin each of the three years 1891-3, in 

 1894 fifteen, in 1895 seventeen ; whilst the list of 1896 is still 

 incomplete (see Appendix). The operations covered the Bay of 

 Bengal ; the Andaman Sea, which proved to be separated from it 

 by a high ridge, of which the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are 

 tbe isolated peaks ; the Laccadive Sea, and the eastern part of the 

 Arabian Sea to Long. 65° E. The vast basin of the Bay of Bengal 

 was found to have a maximum depth of 2400 fathoms at its mouth, 

 and a minimum bottom temperature of 33°"7 Fahr. The bottom 

 of its northern parts consists o£ variously coloured muds, but in 



* " List of Dredging Stations occupied by the U.S. Coast Survey Steamers," 

 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vi. 1879, p. 1 ; U.S. Fish Cominiss. Eeport for 1886, 

 p. 957. 



