VII.] A SEA SPIDER, 265 



water was at the surface + 0° to — 0°'6 ; at the bottom — 1°*4 to 

 1°'G ; its saHnity was considerable, both at the bottom, where it 

 was very nearly equal to that of the other great oceans, and at 

 the surface, where it was indeed about a fifth-part less, but 



,—. ^ 



yet much greater than that of the surface-water in the Kara 

 Sea. 



It is singular that a temperature under the freezing-point 

 of pure water should be advantageous for the development 

 of an animal life so extremely rich as that which is found here, 



