Sea-bottom procured by H.M.S. ‘Challenger.’ 287 
Now without in the least degree calling in question the correct- 
ness of these observations, I venture to submit, first, that they 
bear a different interpretation, and, second, that this interpretation 
is required by other facts, of which no account seems to have been 
taken by Prof. Wyville Thomson and his coadjutor. In this, as 
in many other instances, I believe it will prove that the truth 
lies between two extreme views. That the Globigerine live on the 
bottom only is a position clearly no longer tenable ; but that they 
live and multiply in the upper waters only, and only sink to the 
bottom after death, seems to me a position no more tenable than 
the preceding: and I shall now adduce the evidence which appears 
tome at present to justify the conclusion (I refrain from expressing 
myself more positively, because I consider the question still open 
to investigation), that whilst the Globigerine are pelagic in an earlier 
stage of their lives, frequenting the upper stratum of the ocean, 
they sink to the bottom whilst still living, in consequence of the 
increasing thickness of their calcareous shells, and not only con- 
tinue to live on the sea-bed, but probably multiply there—perhaps 
there exclusively. 
That there is no @ priort improbability in their doing so, is 
proved by the abundant evidence in my possession of the exis- 
tence of Foraminiferal life at abyssal depths. The collections made 
during the ‘ Porcupine’ Expeditions of 1869 and 1870 yielded a 
large number of those Arenaceous types which construct their 
“tests” by the cementation of sand-grains only to be obtained 
on the bottom; and these were almost the only Foraminifera, 
except Globigerine and O-buline, which came up in the 2485- 
fathoms dredging. Again, many Foraminifera, both arenaceous 
and shelly, were brought up from great depths, attached to 
shells, stones, &c., that must have lain at the bottom. Further, 
among the “vitreous” Foraminifera, the most common deep-sea 
types, except those of the Globigerine family, were Cristellarians 
with shells so thick and massive as to be (it may be safely 
affirmed) incapable of being floated by the animals which form 
them; while among the “ porcellaneous ” Foraminifera, the 
Biloculine and Triloculine were equally distinguished by a mas- 
siveness of shell, which seemed to forbid the idea that they could 
have floated subsequently to that stage of their lives in which this 
massiveness had been acquired. 
Of the existence of living Globigerine in great numbers in the 
stratum of water immediately above the bottom, at from 500 to 
750 fathoms depth, I am able to speak with great positiveness. 
It several times happened, during the Third Cruise of the ‘ Por- 
cupine’ in 1869, that the water broaght up by the water-bottle 
from immediately above the Globigerina-ooze was quite turbid ; 
and this turbidity was found (by filtration) to depend, not upon 
the suspension of amorphous particles diffused through the water, 
but upon the presence of multitudes of young Gilobigerine, which 
were retained upon the filter, the water passing through it quite 
clear. The thin shells of these specimens, exhibiting very distinct 
Oe 
