PACIFIC INFLUENCE IN THE WEDDELL SEA ii 



being smaller than those found in the vicinity of Coats Land. Passing northwards on 

 the same meridian of about io° W, and outside the convergence at St. 451/ we begin to 

 get a typical South Atlantic Globigeriiia-ooze fauna, the only Pacific form noted being 

 Bolivina cincta, H.-A. and E. (see F 154, SG 183, A 280). The most northern station 

 worked over was St. 459^ (41° 30' S, 9° 55' W), 1998 fathoms, a typical South Atlantic 

 Globigerina ooze which furnished a long list of species including many forms of Pacific 

 origin, as might be expected from a station in the path of the West Wind Drift. 



The occurrence of these southern and Pacific species in the far south, near the Ant- 

 arctic coast-line, puzzled me greatly, and at one time I thought that all my theories of 

 Antarctic distribution were to be proved incorrect. It was therefore gratifying to learn 

 from Mr G. E. R. Deacon that there was hydrographical evidence of an inflow of 

 Pacific water into the Weddell Sea, in the form of a mid-water current which on reaching 

 the Antarctic coast-line was diverted to the west. From the records of the stations along 

 the meridian of 10° W, it would seem that this current must make its entry to the east 

 of that meridian, and its maximum influence is felt on the bottom edge of the con- 

 tinental shelf (St. 417). Presumably it then follows the unknown edge of the continent 

 into the inner extension of the Weddell Sea, an area from which no material has been 

 obtained, and is there lost in the cold Weddell Sea current. The outlying St. 286 may 

 represent a diversion of the current, but its influence is slight, and it is not to be traced 

 at the adjoining stations, 280, 282, 290 and 291, or in the line of stations 295-313, 

 running north-west to the South Orkney Islands. 



FOSSILS 



At St. 406, off the coast of Coats Land (72° 18' S, 17° 59' W) in 1131 fathoms, and 

 at St. 416, farther off shore (71'' 22' S, 18° 15' W) in 2370 fathoms, a few minute fossils 

 were found which are of interest as proof of the existence of Tertiary strata on the ad- 

 jacent mainland. At St. 406 a single specimen of a calcareous alga {Dactylopora) was 

 found. Professor J. Pia of Vienna was good enough to examine it when working recently 

 at the British Museum (Natural History), and identified the specimen as Neomeris sp., 

 cf. A'^. mimdus (Parker and Jones) (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3), v, i860, p. 474). The speci- 

 men differs from the type in the small size of the pores on the inner edge. Professor Pia 

 informed me that although an unquestionable fossil it was of no value as a zone marker, 

 the species having a range from Eocene to Recent in warm seas. 



At the same station and also at St. 416, a little farther from the coast, a few minute 

 Foraminifera were found which Dr W. A. Macfadyen of Baghdad has kindly ex- 

 amined. He reports as follows : 



1 These stations, 451 and 459, were worked out, but being outside the convergence are not included 

 in this report. 



