288 



THE ATLANTIC. 



[chap. v. 



were in deep water nearly under the line ; Station CIX. was in 

 shallow water near St. Paul's Rocks ; Station CIII. a was close 

 to the Island of Fernando j^oronha ; and the remainder were 

 at moderate depths, usually much below 1000 fathoms, along the 

 Brazilian coast from Cape St. Roque southward to Bahia. The 

 fauna of course varied greatly in this section with the varying 

 conditions. Along the coast of Brazil the bottom was usually 

 river-mud more or less mixed with the shells of globigerina and 

 the debris of surface shells; and the fauna was comparatively 

 rich, recalling that of the western coast of South Europe in the 

 abundance of hexactinellid and coralloid sponges. 



The following table gives the general distribution of the 

 principal animal groups along a line extending from the coast 

 of South America to the Cape of Good Hope, nearly along the 

 parallel of 40° south. Most of these dredgings were in compar- 

 atively deep water, some on the gray and red clays of the west- 

 ern and eastern troughs, and several on the median ridge of the 



