i6 DISCOVERY REPORTS 



mud from 280 fathoms in the Bay of Whales, Ross Sea (78° 34' S, 163° 48' W). The 

 locaHty is stated to be the most southerly point at which Foraminifera have been 

 collected, and the only station of its kind in the eastern Ross Sea. It is on the continental 

 shelf, about 90 miles from the nearest known land and approximately in the same area 

 as some of the Terra Nova stations. 



The sample left a residue of nearly 3 cc. containing in order of abundance, Foramini- 

 fera, Radiolaria, sponge spicules, Alcyonarian spicules, and worm tubes. 350 identifiable 

 specimens of Foraminifera were picked out and referred to thirty-six species, two being 

 new — Trochammina rossensis and Cyclammina gotddi. Neither of these can be identified 

 as occurring in the Discovery material. Twenty-nine of the species appear under the 

 same specific names in this report .^ Of the five remaining forms, two are not identified 

 specifically, Saccorhiza sp. and Gaudryina sp.; Marsipella elongata, Norman, is cos- 

 mopolitan; Haplophragmoides umbilicatiis, Pearcey, is only a large and coarsely built 

 form of Haplophragmoides rotulatus (Brady) (No. 168); and Trochammina turbinata 

 (Brady) may be either the form described in this report as a new genus and species, 

 Recurvoides contortus (No. 169), or Trochammina inconspicua, sp.n. (No. 199). 



The sounding may be taken as an average specimen from the Antarctic continental 

 shelf in its proportion of organic to inorganic remains, and in its constituent species and 

 their number in specimens ; it could be duplicated from the Discovery and Terra Nova 

 stations, and the results amply confirm the existence of an almost identical foraminiferal 

 fauna on the continental shelf, from Graham Land to the most distant points known in 

 the Ross Sea. 



One statement made by the author cannot pass unchallenged. He says that "within 

 60 miles of the coasts of Antarctica and the larger sub- Antarctic islands, the calcareous 

 species despite the coldness of the water are the predominant element in the fauna. This 

 condition prevails to depths of 2000 ft., beyond which point we have little evidence at the 

 present time. Farther off-shore in similar depths, the agglutinated species become the 

 more abundant forms. The change in relative abundance results partly from an actual 

 increase in the agglutinated forms, but chiefly from the almost complete elimination of 

 the Lagenidae and Rotaliidae at the greater distances". 



This is entirely at variance with my experience as regards both the Terra Nova 

 material from the Ross Sea and the Discovery material. Disregarding those stations 

 where the Globigerinae occur in such number as to mask other organisms (as in the 

 Drake Strait and some stations in the Bellingshausen Sea), the calcareous species play 

 an insignificant part in Antarctic material from whatever depth. In number of species 

 they may exceed the arenaceous and agglutinate forms, but the calcareous species are 

 with very few exceptions always represented by few individual specimens, and apart 

 from Globigerina oozes the facies of an Antarctic gathering is always arenaceous. 



1 Nos. 70, 108, 122, 133, 140, 141, 14s, 148, 158, 162, 166-7, 180-1, 189, 193, 195, 197-8, 216, 229, 231, 

 234,288,464,487, 513-15. 



