THE DEPTH AND MARINE DEPOSITS OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 11 



nodules, generally mammillated on the surface, and slabs of all sizes, from 

 that of a large potato to that of a pea. Many of the nodules were spherical 

 or ellipsoidal. Many of the flattened pieces contained large sharks' teeth ; 

 there were but few ear-bones or other bones of cetaceans. Some of the 

 sharks' teeth were fully four inches long. 



" At Station 183, in 2472 fathoms, lat. 19° 04' S., long. 167° 41' W. . . . 

 The ' Blake ' trawl came up with a large hole on the side and the bottom 

 partly carried away, yet there were still left in the bag a number of small, 

 flat manganese nodules, from the size of a small walnut down. The bag 

 also contained a few pieces of pumice and one shark's tooth, a few siliceous 

 sponge spicules, and fragments of a small siliceous sponge. . . . 



" A comparison of the deposits collected by the ' Albatross ' on the line 

 from San Francisco to Tahiti with the 'Challenger' line of soundings' from 

 Station 253, north of the Hawaiian Islands to Tahiti, shows a great similarity 

 in their characteristic structure. At Station 2 (lat. 28° 23' N., long. 126° 

 51' W.), in only 2368 fathoms, the 'Albatross' struck the characteristic 

 Pacific red clay which was met with as far as Station 14 (lat. 6° 41' N., 

 long. 137° W.), where in 2776 fathoms GlobigerinjB and Foraminifera pre- 

 dominated and no Radiolarians occurred, while at next station, in 2583 fath- 

 oms, Radiolarians were again obtained, as well as at Station 18 (lat. 6° 25' S., 

 long. 138° 59' W.), in 2468 fathoms, and at Station 23 (lat. 8° 33' S., 

 long. 139° 36' W.), in 1802 fathoms, near the Marquesas, together with vol- 

 canic particles. At the intermediate stations, varying in depth from 1939 

 to 2463 fathoms, Globigerina ooze was obtained. It may be stated that 

 Stations 14 to 23 are in a general way in the tract of the equatorial current 

 and counter current, characterized by the larger number of species consti- 

 tuting its surface fauna than in the stations to the north. . . . 



" The bottom deposit at the stations in the vicinity of the Marquesas 

 are characterized by an admixture of Globigerina ooze and volcanic particles. 

 In the channel separating the Marquesas from the northwestern Paumotus, 

 a distance of not more than four hundred and fifty miles, the deeper parts, 

 in from 2456 fiithoms to 2700 fathoms, are marked by all the characteristics 

 of the deposits in the deeper parts of the eastern Pacific north of the Mar- 

 quesas ; the deposits passing from red clay associated with Radiolarians to 

 red clay mixed with Foraminifera, and in the lesser depths, 1208 fathoms 

 to 1932 fathoms, we meet with deposits consisting of Globigerina ooze, and 

 finally coral sand in the vicinity of the Paumotu plateau. 



