10 



THE ATLANTIC. 



[chap. I. 



21' W., in 1500 fathoms, with the 

 usual gray-white chalkj bottom which 

 surrounds the reefs. A serial tem- 

 perature sounding indicated a distri- 

 bution of temperature very similar to 

 that at Station LY. to the north of 

 Bermudas ; the warm band to a depth 

 of 350 fathoms was still very marked 

 (Fig. 1). 



Our position at noon on the 15th 

 was, lat. 33° 41' K, long. 61° 28' W., 

 1610 miles from Fayal. 



On the morning of the 16tli we 

 sounded in 2575 fathoms, with a bot- 

 tom of reddish ooze containing many 

 foraminifera. The bottom tempera- 

 ture was 1°'5. A small, rather heavy 

 trawl, with a beam 11|^ feet in length, 

 was put over in the morning; but 

 when it was hauled in, about live in 

 the afternoon, it was found that it liad 

 not reached the bottom. This was 

 the first case of failure with the trawl ; 

 it was probably caused by the drift of 

 the ship being somewhat greater than 

 we supposed. The net contained a 

 specimen of one of the singular and 

 beautiful fishes belonging to the Ster- 

 noptycMdm, an aberrant family of the 

 Physostomi, distinguished by having 

 on some part of the body ranges of 

 spots or glands producing a phosphor- 

 escent secretion. The surface of the 

 body is in most of the species devoid 



