1871.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 289 
of fragments of rocks. It seems impossible to overrate the impor- 
tant bearing of these observations on the study of Geology. The 
Atlantic sea-bed was in places found to be covered with a jelly-like 
net work of protoplasm (Bathybius of Huxley), which offers a 
curious parallel to the Laurentian Eozoon, the oldest trace of 
animal life yet discovered. 
Up to the present time naturalists in India never have had a 
‘possibility of carrying out such researches. There has been no 
vessel, fitted for such duties available, and no means of carrying 
them on. Since, however, it has been determined to form the In- 
dian waters into a special naval station, and several steamers have 
been placed on the station, it is hoped that the possibilities of 
success have been entirely changed. ‘The experienced officer who 
commands the station is fully alive to the great importance of 
enquiries such as we have alluded to, and has expressed his anxious 
willingness to aid them, in so far as his duty will permit. The 
readiness and friendly support which the Lords Commissioners of 
the British Admiralty have shewn in the promotion of any line of 
research calculated to advance knowledge, lead us also to hope 
that the same friendly aid will be extended to Indian naturalists, 
and we would, therefore, urge that an application be made to the 
Government of India for its support in these enquiries, with a re- 
quest that it will also urge the question on the favourable consider- 
ation of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Admiralty, so 
that if consistent with naval duties, some one of the steamers, now 
in these waters, might for a time be placed at the service of the 
Committee. 
It is beyond doubt that results of equal value and importance to 
those obtained by the Dredging Expeditions at home can, and will, 
be obtained by explorations of a similar kind undertaken in Indian 
waters, and, no regular dredging operations having ever been con- 
ducted in the seas of a tropical country, the Sub-Committee ven- 
ture to think that the more favourable climate and the far richer 
fauna and flora of tropical and subtropical regions justify the ex- 
pectation of even more numerous and more varied results, than 
those which have been obtained in colder regions. The variety 
and abundance of animal life must be enormous, because we have 
