30 EDWARDS : 



fathoms southeast of Cape Henlopeu, Fire Island Inlet and 

 Little Egg Harbor were chiefly made up of vast amounts of 

 forameniferous shells, rivalling in abundance the deposits of 

 analogous species which he had found to compose the immense 

 beds under the city of Charleston, South Carolina. He exam- 

 ined the soundings brought home by Lieut. Berry man, of the 

 U. S. S. "Dolphin," made by using Lieut. Brooke's lead. 

 There were five soundings made in 1080, 1360, 1580, 1800 and 

 2000 fathoms. None contained gravel or sand. All con- 

 tained microscopic forameniferous shells. They all contained 

 Bacillaria, which Bailey referred to Coscinodisais lijieahis, C. 

 excavatus and C. radiatus. They all contained what he called 

 Polycistiniae, that is to say, Radiolaria, and also Dictyocha 

 jubidcs (G. E.), which is now relegated by Haeckel to the 

 Radiolaria also. 



He also says that ' ' the Cretaceous deposit of New Jersey 

 presents no resemblance to soundings, and are doubtless lit- 

 toral, as stated by Prof. H. D. Rogers." ''^ Thus showing how 

 they were produced before the era of ' ' species generation ' ' 

 made certain by the researches of Darwin, who followed 

 Carpenter. 



In the \^ear 1856 Prof. Bailey published his remarkable 

 researches on soundings, in which he found Bacillaria, that is 

 to say. Diatoms, and as he gave me the publication I wish to 

 be explicit. It was a remarkable addition to our then know- 

 ledge, although Hooker had discovered Bacillaria in the 

 soundings from the south sea. Some 3'ears before, Lieut. 

 Brooke, of the United States Navy, had been employed in 

 surveying the Sea of Kamtschatka and Prof. Bailey wrote on 

 the specimens. It was in a letter to Lieut. Maury, of the 

 National Observatory at Washington, D. C, dated at West 

 Point, January 29th, 1856. He details examining three 

 samples, as follows : — 



No. I. Sea bottom, 2700 fathoms (16,200 feet), latitude 



*Proc. Bost. Nat. Hist., 1853, p. 297. 



