A SHORT HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATIONS 3 



of 236 fathoms within eleven degrees of the North 

 Pole by a certain Captain Adriaanz of the ' Britannia.' 

 The specimen was evidently an Umhellula, and it is 

 stated that the arms (i.e. Polyps) were of a bright 

 yellow colour and fully expanded when first brought 

 on deck. 



In 1819 Sir John Ross published an account of 

 his soundings in Baffin's Bay, and mentions the ex- 

 istence of certain worms in the mud brought from a 

 depth of 1,000 fathoms, and a fine Caput Medusae 

 (Astrophyton) entangled on the sounding line at a 

 depth of 800 fathoms. 



In the narrative of the voyage of the ' Erebus ' and 

 * Terror,' published in 1847, Sir James Ross calls 

 attention to the existence of a deep-sea fauna, and 

 makes some remarks on the subject that in the light 

 of modern knowledge are of extreme interest. ' I 

 have no doubt,' he says, ' that from however great a 

 depth we may be enabled to briug up the mud and 

 stones of the ocean, we shall find them teeming with 

 animal life.' This firm belief in the existence of an 

 abysmal fauna was not, as it might appear from the 

 immediate context of the passage I have quoted, simply 

 an unfounded speculation on his part, but was evi- 

 dently the result of a careful and deliberate chain of 



