CHAP. VI. ] DEEP-SEA DREDGING. 265 
phenomena of the distribution of temperature are 
most acceptable. 
‘At the Birmingham Meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation in 1839 an important committee was ap- 
pointed “for researches with the dredge, with a 
view to the investigation of the marine zoology of 
Great Britain, the illustration of the geographical 
distribution of marine animals, and the more 
accurate determination of the fossils of the plio- 
cene period: under the superintendence of Mr. 
Gray, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Goodsir, Mr. Patterson, Mr. 
Thompson of Belfast, Mr. Ball of Dublin, Dr. George 
Johnston, Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill, and Mr. A. 
Strickland.”? The appointment of this committee 
may be regarded as the initiation of the systematic 
employment _of this method of research. Edward 
Forbes was the ruling spirit, and under the genial 
influence of his contagious enthusiasm great pro- 
eress was made during the next decade in the know- 
ledge of the fauna of the British seas, and many 
wonderfully pleasant days were spent by the original 
committee and by many others who, from year to 
year, were ‘added to their number.’ Every annual 
report of the British Association contained commu- 
nications from the English, the Scottish, or the Irish 
branches of the committee, and in 1850 Edward 
Forbes submitted its first general report on British 
marine zoology. ‘This report, as might have been 
anticipated from the eminent qualifications of the 
reporter, was of the highest value; and taken along 
with his remarkable memoirs previously published, 
“on the distribution of the Mollusca and Radiata 
of the Aigean Sea,”’ and “ on the geological relations 
