168 THE ATLANTIC. [CHAP. II. 
practice in the use of Sir William Thomson’s marine galva- 
nometer, the instrument employed in observing the indications, 
it might be possible to arrive at considerable accuracy. 
The slip water-bottle which was used by Dr. Meyer and Dr. 
Jacobsen in the German North Sea Expedition of the summer 
of 1872 was sent down to the bottom, and Mr. Buchanan deter- 
mined the specific gravity of the bottom water to be 1:02584 
at a temperature of 17°-9 C., the specific gravity of surface wa- 
ter being 102648 at a temperature of 18°°5 C. 
All Sunday, the 16th, we spent sailing with a light air from 
the northward, and by Monday morning we had made about 
130 miles from our previous sounding. The dredge was put 
over at 5.15 a.m. with 2700 fathoms rope, and a weight of 2 ewt. 
300 fathoms before the dredge. A sounding was taken at 
7 am. with the “ Hydra” machine and 2 ewt.; a slip water-bot- 
tle and two thermometers, Nos. 49 and 40, being sent down 
along with it. The sounding instrument gave a depth of 1945 
fathoms, with a bottom of gray globigerina ooze containing 
many large foraminifera. The mean of the two thermometers 
was 2° C., and the specific gravity of the bottom water 1:02527 
at 18°°3 C., that of the surface water being 1:02629 at 19°°6 C. 
After steaming up to the dredge once or twice, hauling-in 
was commenced at 1.30 p.m.,and the dredge came up at 3.30 
half full of compact yellowish ooze. The ooze was carefully 
sifted, but nothing was found in it with the exception of fora- — 
minifera, the otolites of fishes, the dead shells of pteropods, and 
one mutilated specimen of what appears to be a new Gephyre- 
an. This animal was examined by Dr. von Willemoes-Suhm, 
who found that it shows a combination of the characters of the 
Sipunculacea and the Priapulacea. As in the former group, 
the excretory orifice is near the mouth, in the anterior part of 
the body; while, as in the latter, there is no proboscis and there 
are no tentacles. The pharynx is very short, and is attached 
to the walls of the body by four retractor muscles. The phar- 
