1864.] Wauxticu on the Atlantic Deep-sea Bed and its Inhabitants. 43 
the deposits, the peculiar condition of their soft parts has invariably 
been such as to indicate their having lived in shallower zones, and 
only descended to the bottom on life becoming extinct. It is mani- 
fest, therefore, that the law referred to, however stringently it may 
apply to terrestrial life, admits of exceptions in the case of marine 
forms. How these exceptions are provided against remains yet to be 
ascertained. 
But, it may be asked, what are these mysterious little atoms of 
which so much has been said, and which play so important a part, not 
only in the composition of the present sea-bed, but of vast tracts of 
existing dry land. For the benefit of those who have not directed their 
attention to the subject, we append the following brief particulars and 
the accompanying Illustrations. 
The animal, as already stated, is one of the lowest in the scale of 
creation. It consists of a minute particle of viscid matter, not unlike 
the fluid but yet granular portions of honey both as to consistence 
and colour, and like honey devoid of organization. Nevertheless it 
possesses vital contractility, and the power of altering its shape to any 
extent. The little mass is not naked, however, but in virtue of another 
vital faculty inherent in it, is able to extract calcareous matter from 
the water in which it lives, and re-secrete it in the form of the ex- 
quisite shells known to naturalists under the name of Foraminifera. 
In the deep-sea species to which we are particularly referring, the 
shells consist generally of a number of chambers ranged in more or 
less symmetrical order, and each communicating with the rest and 
with the outer world by one large aperture, and a number of minute 
pores studded over the entire surface. Through these, the little animal 
is continually projecting, and as continually retracting, delicate thread- 
like feelers, composed of the same substance as the rest of the body. 
By means of these feelers it performs the movements of which it is 
capable, and, in all probability, is enabled to provide itself with food. 
Hence it will be understood why it was stated, in a former portion of 
these observations, that in the absence of these movements it becomes 
almost impossible to determine whether the object before us is alive 
or dead. 
But although this wonderful little creature demands special notice, 
owing to the share it takes in the composition of the deep-sea deposits, 
numberless other forms are to be met with, equally simple in their 
nature, but still more beautiful in their structure. And this leads us, 
in the last place, to inquire whether or not there is reason to apprehend 
danger from their attacks upon a submerged Telegraphic Cable. 
On this point we can speak with confidence. If there be any source 
through which the abrasion of a cable, either by contact with other 
substances, or the attacks of creatures able to bore into its coverings 
and thus destroy or impair its insulation, may be obviated, it is through 
the gradual incrustation that these humble shell-builders are sure to 
form around it. Accordingly it becomes of the utmost importance to 
select, as far as is practicable, those areas of the sea-bed which are 
covered by the foraminiferous deposits, and to avoid those which are 
bare. Minute Annelids unquestionably exist even at the greatest depths, 
