( 33 ) 

 PEOGEESS OF MICEOSCOPICAL SCIENCE. 



Microscopic Life at the Bed of the Mediterranean. — We would 

 merely allude to this subject for the purpose of referring our readers 

 to the splendid paper of researches on ocean currents generally, and 

 vitality at different depths in the Mediterranean and other seas, by 

 Dr. B. W. Carpenter, F.R.S., which occupies a whole number of the 

 Proceedings of the Royal Society, extending to about 110 pages. It is 

 of special importance, from the justification it affords to the hypo- 

 theses of the late Edward Forbes, F.R.S., who made most of his 

 researches in the Mediterranean. Dr. Carpenter states, in reference to 

 this subject, — " I am disposed to believe, therefore, that in the Medi- 

 terranean basin, the existence of animal life in any abundance at a 

 depth greater than 200 fathoms will be found quite exceptional ; and 

 that, without pronouncing its depths to be absolutely azoic, we may 

 safely assert them to present a most striking contrast, in respect of 

 animal life, to those marine Paradises* which we continually met with 

 in the Eastern and Northern Atlantic at depths between 500 and 

 1200 fathoms. And I have the satisfaction of finding that my con- 

 clusion on this point is entirely borne out by the results of the 

 dredgings carried on in the Adriatic by Dr. Oscar Schmidt ; who 

 found the like barrenness at depths below 150 fathoms, except as 

 regards Foraminifera, Bathybius, and Coccoliths. Alter a most care- 

 ful microscopic examination of the mud obtained from the depths of 

 the Mediterranean, I feel justified in saying that even of these lowest 

 organisms scarcely any traces are to be found. — Thus it appears that 

 Edward Forbes was quite justified in the conclusion he drew as regards 

 the particular locality he had investigated; and that his only mistake lay 

 in supposing that the same conditions would prevail in the open ocean " 



A Mite in the Ear of an Ox. — At a meeting of the ' Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia,' whose report we have only now 

 received, Professor Leidy said he had receive 1 a letter from Dr. Charles 

 S. Turnbull, in which he stated that while studying the anatomy of 

 the ear he had discovered in several heads of steers, at the bottom 

 of the external auditory meatus, a number of small living parasites. 

 They were found attached to the surface of the membrana tympani. 

 Specimens of the parasite preserved in glycerine, and a petrosal bone 

 with the membrana tympani, to which several of the parasites were 

 clinging, were also sent for examination. These prove to be a mite 

 or acarus, apparently of the genus Gamasus. The body is ovoid, 

 translucent white, about | of a line long, and § of a line wide. The 

 limbs, jaws, and their appendages, are brown and bristled. The body 

 is smooth or devoid of bristles. The limbs are from f to \ a line 

 long. The feet are terminated by a five-lobed disk and a pair of 

 claws. The palpi are six-jointed. The mandibles end in pincers or 

 chelae, resembling lobster claws. The movable joint of the chelae has 

 two teeth at the end. The opposed extremity of the fixed joint of the 



* This word is used in the sense familiar to the Greek scholar. 



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