president's addeess. 185 



succeeded in bringing as much as 6lbs. of mud from the great depth 

 of 1050 fathoms in Baffin's Bay, and from 1000 fathoms in Possession 

 Bay, containing living worms and other organisms. In 1833 Sir John 

 Eoss repeated his researches, and frequently dredged in shallow water 

 and down to 70 fathoms, making large collections, which, however, 

 were lost in the "Victory." 



Charles Darwin's observations during the Yoyage of the "Beagle," 

 1831-36, were chiefly directed to the bathymetric limit of life in 

 coral-reefs and the structure and origin of coral-reefs generally. 



Professor Ball's naturalist's dredge was invented in 1838. 



To Prof. Edward Forbes we owe more (in the early days of the 

 past 50 years) than to any other man for the advance of general 

 marine zoology. His definition of zones of life along the borders 

 of the continents and islands, as " Littoral," " Laminarian," and 

 "Coralline" zones and the " Kegion of the Deep-Sea Corals," have 

 proved of the greatest value to Naturalists and are still current. 



Besides acting as Naturalist to H.M.S. "Beacon" in the Medi- 

 terranean, whei'e he did such excellent work in the ^gean Sea with 

 the dredge. Professor Edward Forbes accompanied Lieutenant Spratt 

 in the launch "Isabella"; he also dredged with James Smith, of 

 Jordan Hill, with Robert MacAndrew, with William Thompson, 

 R. Patterson, and Robert Ball, all experienced dredgers. 



Writing of his cruise in the JEgean Sea, Edward Forbes says : 

 " Whenever it was possible we dredged, and the results are most 

 important. I have found a defined fauna different from any other 

 of the marine zones, between 90 and 200 fathoms in these seas, and 

 with an exact correspondence in its productions over all the examined 

 part of the ^gean — a stretch of 200 miles. I have found starfishes 

 alive in 200 fathoms ; TelUnce and Rissoa at 150(!); a bed of chalk full 

 of Foraminifei'a, and the shells of Pteropoda, forming at the bottom of 

 these seas ! Moreover, the most characteristic shells of this hitherto 

 unknown region are species only known to conchologists as fossil." 

 This was penned just 53 years ago. 



We must not omit to record the important additions to our know- 

 ledge which we owe to the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838-1842) 

 under Captain Wilkes, in which the great American Naturalist, Prof. 

 Jas. D. Dana, took a leading pai't. 



Sir James Clark Ross in the "Erebus" and "Terror" (1839 to 

 1843) explored the Antarctic coasts and made important soundings 

 and dredgings in deep water, down to 400 fathoms. The evidence of 

 a low but uniform temperature at great depths in the ocean was 

 established by Ross, and has not since been controverted by later 

 investigators even after 50 years. 'Ross's collections of specimens of 

 zoology, which were large, were not well attended to, and at his death 

 were found to have been totally destroyed, by want of care in their 

 mode of preservation. 



When Sir John Franklin's ill-fated Polar expedition set out in 

 1845, Mr. Harry Goodsir, a young zoologist of great promise, sailed 

 on board the "Erebus" as assistant surgeon and naturalist. The 

 expedition never returned, and only fragmentary records are preserved 



