64 PROCEEDINGS OP SOCIETIES. ["j^Jurall^LTMSTa' 



Dr. Murie then, at the request of the President, gave a short sum- 

 mary of a paper communicated by Dr. Macintosh "On the Stylet 

 Eegion of the Ommoutoplean Proboscis." 



These papers were then taken as read, and a vote of thanks passed 

 to the authors. 



The President then called on Professor T. Eymer Jones, F.E.S., 

 to read a paper " On Deep-sea Dredgings, from the Vicinity of China 

 and Japan." 



Mr. Brooke said that he would make only one remark in con- 

 firmation of the statement of Professor Jones in reference to the 

 abundance of life which existed at the bottom of the sea. At the 

 late meeting of the Royal Society Dr. Carjjenter had mentioned the 

 fact that in his recent expedition a cable, composed of rope, the end 

 of which was so arranged as to form a loose tangle, was let down to 

 a depth of 2000 fathoms, and was brought uj) covered with certain 

 kinds of Echinus, in such numbers that, after fm-nishing specimens 

 sufficient to supply all the Museums in Europe, they wei-e obliged to 

 stamp them out in order to get rid of them. 



Mr. Slack said it was evident that the physical problems of deep- 

 sea life had not been understood. If pressm*e on living creatui'cs 

 at the bottom of the sea is equal in all directions, from their being 

 permeated with fluid pressing from within as well as from without, 

 there was no reason why they should not bear it as easily as we bear 

 the pressm'c of the atmosphere. But the chemical conditions of the 

 depths of the sea must differ considerably from those which existed 

 on the earth's surface. It might be supposed that the ultimate mole- 

 cules of matter would have to bear the whole pressure external to 

 them, and adjacent moleciJes might be so closely compressed as to 

 3ause chemical action to vary materially from that which goes on on 

 the sm-face of the earth. Comj)osition and decomposition might be 

 presumed to take j)lace with much greater or much less facility 

 according to circumstances. 



Mr. Hogg was glad to find that the discoveries of Dr. Wallich had 

 received from Professor Jones the recognition which they merited. 



The President said, with reference to the chemical conditions at 

 the bottom of the sea, which were alluded to by Mr. Slack, he had 

 been much interested in the statement as to the large amount of car- 

 bonic acid gas existing there, as was clearly the case from the report 

 of Professor Jones. The creatures described by him must supply an 

 enormous quantity of this noxious gas, so as to render it a matter 

 of surprise as to how it was possible for them to live surrounded by 

 it. He could only sujjpose that the balance of vital conditions was 

 maintained, by the effect which the violent commotions to which the 

 sea was subject was produced, in causing the gas to rise. 



A vote of thanks was then passed to Professor Jones, 



The meeting was then adjourned to January 12th, when papers 

 will be read by W. S. Kent, F.Z.S., F.R.M.S., " On the Calcareous 

 Spicula of the Goronaceas : their modification of form, and the impor- 

 tance of their characters as a basis for generic and specific diagnosis." 

 By John Browning, F.R.A.S., &c., " On a new mode of Measuring 



