84< Transactions of the 



the equator towards the poles, and near the bottom from the poles 

 towards the equator. In the Mediterranean, however, which was 

 cut off by its position from the general oceanic circulation, the 

 temperature at all depths between 200 and 1700 fathoms was 55° 

 Fah., and the bottom was almost destitute of any kind of life. 

 No evidence of vegetable life had been found at any of the depths 

 examined in the Atlantic. 



The following were some of the instances given in support of 

 the above general assertions. On the sea bottom between the 

 north of Scotland, the Faroes, and the Shetlands, two very different 

 deep-sea climates were found to co-exist. In the so-caUed ' warm 

 area' the bottom temperature was 42|° Fah., at the depth of 650 

 fathoms, while the animal life found there corresponded closely in 

 its general features to that found at corresponding temperatures 

 in other parts of the North Atlantic. In the ' cold area,' how- 

 ever, at the same depth, the bottom temperature was 29J° Fah., 

 and fauna of a semi-Arctic character were found, while the gene- 

 ral character of the bottom, instead of being composed of the 

 ' Globigerina mud ' found in the warmer area, was largely made up 

 of fragments of volcanic minerals, probably brought down by the 

 cold current from Iceland and Jan Meyen. A sail of ten miles 

 or less over the surface of the sea, was sufficient to cross from the 

 warm to the cold area. 



As prominent examples of new species discovered in these 

 expeditions, the siliceous sponge (Holtema Carpenteri) and a 

 new large Pentacrinus were mentioned ; and a description was 

 given of a remarkable haul of the dredge at a depth of 994< 

 fathoms off the Portuguese coast, containing 186 species of shells, 

 of which 91 were recent, but chiefly northern forms ; 24 were 

 fossil, chiefly corresponding to those in the Sicilian tertiary beds, 

 while 71 (or nearly 40 per cent.) were new or undescribed, some 

 even representing new genera. 



A description was then given, illustrated by diagrams, of some 

 of the animals found during the deep-sea dredgings, especially of 

 the siliceous sponges, and of several kinds of Foraminifera, some of 

 which had siliceous, or rather arenaceous shells, and others cal- 

 careous. Of the latter, far the most abundant was the Globigerina, 

 broken fragments and living specimens of which formed the basis of 

 the Atlantic mud, which was found everywhere except in the ' cold 

 area.' Globigerinje formed also the chief constituent of chalk, and it 

 was pointed out that, since no change of level as great as the present 

 depth of the Atlantic (12,000 feet and upwards) had taken place 

 since the deposit of the Chalk formation, there was reason to 

 believe that the deposit now going on in the North Atlantic was 

 continuous with that which was being formed there at the time of 



