THE VOYAGE OF THE CHALLENGER. 



47 



its progress landward — its growth — has been arrested the tendency of 

 the incoherent mass is to travel back again by gra\dtation and the action 

 of rain ; accordingly it is not unusual to be told that one of these coulees 

 is gradually disappearing. 



Among the more original and striking results 

 of the expedition is the conclusive proof that " the 

 conditions of the bottom of the sea to all depths 

 are not only such as to admit of the existence of 

 animal life, but are such as to allow of the unlimited 

 extension of the distribution of animals high in the 

 zoological series, and closely in relation with the 

 characteristic faunas of shallower zones" (page 203, 

 vol. I.) Our readers will scarcely need reminding 

 that until within recent years the general belief wn 

 that beyond a certain very moderate depth in tl . 

 ocean, organic life entirely ceased, and all was death 

 and darkness. 



The two volumes are illustrated by nearly 30(J 

 woodcuts of first-rate excellence, many of them we 

 feel inclined to think unsurpassable. By the courtesy 

 of Messrs. Macmillan and Co. we are enabled to 



Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 



present our readers with three specimens of them. They are all forms of the 

 new order " Challeugerida," " the only new group," says Sir Wyvnlle Thom- 

 son, " of higher than generic value which has come to light during the 

 ChaUeuger Expedition." Figure 3 represents the type genus Challengeria, 

 magniiied 400 times. Figures 4 and 5 represent forms of the Challeugerida. 

 This order has apparently hitherto escaped observ-ation. These forms 

 are extremely minute, although some of them are nearly the size of the 

 smaller Radiolariaus, which they approach in certain features. About 

 thirty species have been met with during the Challenger Expedition. There 

 are numbers of charts, showing the routes and observing stations, tables 

 of temperature and other meteorological information, a contour map of 

 the Atlantic, and an exquisite vignette portrait of Sir Wy\Tlle Thomson, 

 engraved by Mr. C. H. Jeens. Author, Artists, and Publishers are to be 

 congratulated on the results of their several labours, and we venture to 

 think that the volumes wiU attain a deservedly wide and enduring 

 popularity. E. W. B. 



