LINNEAJf SOCIETY OF LOXDOX. 9 



February 1st-, 1906. 

 Prof. W. A. Herdma>-, F.E.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the General Meeting of the 18th January were 

 read and confirmed. 



Dr. "William Thomas Caiman was admitted a Fellow. 



Mr. Hugh Findon, Mr. James Eustace Eadcliffe McDonagh, 

 M.E.C.8., L.E.C.P., Mr. Thomas Hawkes Eussell, and Mr. Erufst 

 Justus Schwartz, M.A. Cantab., B.Sc.Lond., were proposed as 

 Fellows. 



By special invitation of the Council, Mr. J. Staxlet Gakdiner, 

 M.A., gave an account of the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition in 

 H.M.S. ' Sealark ' to the Indian Ocean, of which he was leader. ^ 



In 1904, at the request of the Eoyal Society, His Majesty's 

 Government agreed to allow the Author to undertake a six months' 

 cruise in H.M.S. ' Sealark' in the following year, to investigate the 

 western part of the Indian Ocean between India and Madagascar. 

 The author was responsible forthe whole work, and with Mr.Forster 

 Cooper took charge especially of the biology and geology, while 

 Commander Boyle Somerville and the Officers of H.M.S. ' Sealark ' 

 did most of the practical work connected with the oceanography. 



Leaving Colombo on May 9, 1905, H.M.S. ' Sealark ' proceeded 

 to the Chagos Archipelago, where a stay of two months was made : 

 Salomon, Peros Banhos, Diego Garcia, and Egmont, all ring-shaped 

 reefs with land, were carefully examined, and the first resurveyed 

 on a big scale. The reefs were found to be very largely formed by 

 calcareous algge, and the marine fauna to be singularly poor in 

 species. jS^umerous soundings were put down between the different 

 atolls and banks, and sections were run off Salomon Atoll, where 

 also a series of dredgings was obtained. The talus slope off the 

 reefs was very marked, and the bottom between the different banks 

 was found to be current-swept down to 500 fathoms. 



The expedition having left Mauritius on August 22nd, the 

 submerged Nazareth and Saya de Malha Banks were examined 

 and dredged. Coetivy was next visited, and its fauna and flora, 

 terrestrial and marine, carefully collected for comparison with the 

 Chagos. The line between Madagascar and Seychelles was then 

 investigated. The low hills of Farquhar were found to be merely 

 sand dunes, while St. Pierre turned out to be a raised coral island. 

 Off Providence specimens were obtained of a volcanic rock, which 

 probably forms the foundation of that coral bank, .llphonse and 

 Desroehes were subsequently visited, and the Amirante Bank was 

 carefully dredged ; Poivu Darros, St. Joseph, and Eagle Islands 

 also being examined. 



