THE PRECIPITATION OF CALCIUM CARBONATE IN THE SEA. 



501 



90 fathoms at a point near the Gulf Stream region, 25 miles south of 

 Tortugas. Exhausted glass flasks, with capillary necks which could be 

 broken off at the required depth, were used for the purpose. 



These samples were plated in the Peptone Agar medium and counted 

 with the following; average results : — 



It is probable that these figures are not very reliable, especially for 

 the greater depths, since it is possible that many of the bacteria were 

 killed by the sudden reduction of pressure to which they were exposed 

 as the water entered the exhausted bulb. 



THE INVESTIGATION OF SAMPLES TAKEN FEOM A I'OINT 

 70 MILES WEST OF USHANT ISLAND, FEANCE. 



This spot was chosen as it is sufficiently far out in the Atlantic to be 

 largely out of the influence of the English Channel water. The object 

 was to investigate truly oceanic bacteria, and previous work in 1901) 

 had shown that the bacterial flora of the Channel water was relatively 

 very complicated, probably owing to the presence of littoral forms. 

 The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom very kindly 

 sent their s.s. Oitliona from Plymouth for this work, and gave me 

 every facility both on board and in their Laboratory. As in Tortugas, 

 the deep samples were collected in exhausted glass flasks, and accord- 

 ingly, as previously explained, the results obtained from the deep 

 samples cannot be considered to possess any very great degree of 

 accuracy. 



Attempts were made to plate the samples in Peptone Agar on board 

 the boat, but the result was not satisfactory, as owing to the motion 

 of the boat the jelly set in irregular waves and lumps. Consequently 

 the samples were kept on ice, and cultures were made from them at 

 Plymouth 24 hours after collection. It is clear that if in the future 



