at Great Depths in the Sea. 397 



Mr. Jeffreys states that " during the recent expedition to 

 survey the North Athuitic Telegraph line, there was only one 

 piece* of drift-ivood met Avith in the Arctic Sea uhich showed 

 any marks of having been ])erforated by marine animals ;" and 

 that this piece of wood, which " was picked up by the ' Fox/ on 

 the 13th Sept. I860, off tiie east coast of Greenland, in lat. 

 60° 54' N., long. 41° 58' W.," had, through the intervention of 

 the commander of H.M.S. 'Bulldog,' been submitted to his 

 (Mr. JefFreys's) examination. On making sections of this piece 

 of wood, which " appeared to have been much rubbed and frayed, 

 probably by attrition against loose or floating ice," Mr. Jeffreys 

 says he found " that the perforations had been caused by a kind 

 of Annelid, and that they extended to a considerable depth, 

 although they were of a different nature from the tunnels made 

 by any kind of Teredo," — the paragraph from which these ex- 

 tracts are quoted concluding with the statement that, reference 

 having been made by Mr. Jeffreys "to the account given by the 

 late Sir John Ross of his 'Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic 

 Regions,' which was published in 1819," he found "that in 

 many of the deep-sea soundings " which are so accurately de- 

 scribed by that navigator, "living 'sea-worms^ (or Annelids) 

 occurred at depths varying from 192 to 1000 fathoms." 



I confess myself at no slight loss to trace the bearing of the 

 "fact" adduced by Mr. Jeffreys upon deep-sea soundings, or 

 oceanic telegraphy, and still more at a loss to establish any 

 rational connexion between it and the " inference" which is made 

 to follow — an inference long since universally recognized as de- 

 ducible from a very different series of observations — namely, 

 " that proper precautions ought to be taken to prevent the cable 

 being injured, and the telegraphic action affected, by marine 

 animals of perforating habits. No vegetable substance," Mr. 

 Jeffreys goes on to say, " is free from their attacks ;" and, as 



* ]\Ir. Jeffreys labours under a misconception on this point. At page 28 

 of mj- " Notes on the Presence of Animal Life at vast Depths in the Sea," 

 I state that " on two occasions only, during the cruise of the expedition 

 on the coast of Greenland, was drift-timber fallen in with. Both specimens 

 were of pine, completely sodden by long immersion, and exhibiting no 

 trace of ejiiphytic growths or parasitic animalcules, from which some clue 

 might possibly have been obt.ained as to their source." This remark 

 having reference solely to the peculiar nature of the Arctic current of the 

 season in question, I made no mention of fragments of drift-timber, which 

 I repeatedly came across whilst dredging in the ship's dingy amongst 

 the hords. Several of the pieces jiicked up by me in these channels were 

 more or less ])icrced ; but 1 failed to detect any remarkable telegraphic 

 significance in these tem])cst-worn but still fioatiny derelicts. It is to be 

 presumed, I suppose, that the j)iece of drift-wood picked up by the ' Fox' 

 did not grow at the bottom of the sea. 



N.B. The italics in the quotation are mine. — G. C. W, 



