iv INTRODUCTION. 



vided on opposite sides of the equator, and that there is a mild 

 climate in the unknown regions of the antarctic circle. Over the 

 extra-tropical regions of our planet, the atmosphere on the polar 

 side of 40° N. and 40° S. is so unequally divided as to produce 

 an average pressure, parallel for parallel, of 50 lbs. less upon the 

 square foot of sea surface in southern thaix upon the square foot 

 of sea surface in northern latitudes. These, and many other de- 

 velopments not less interesting, seemed to call for a recast of the 

 Avork. Indeed, though something has been done by this system 

 of research for the sea, much, very much yet remains to be done. 



There is, in particular, one field which is exceedingly inviting, 

 but in which laborers are wanting, and into which only a few are 

 preparing to enter. The seventh edition of Sailing Directions, 

 published in 1855, contains a fac-simile of the log of the American 

 ship Garrick, Captain E. W. Foster, from New York to Liverpool 

 and back, in 1854. Captain Foster is accustomed, in his leisure 

 hours at sea, to amuse himself by hauling up buckets of water 

 from alongside, that he may, with a common magnifier of his sex- 

 tant, examine the animalculse in it. Their multitudes, their di- 

 versity of forms, their variety of color, afforded him sources of 

 never-ceasing wonder and astonishment. His abstract log was 

 embellished with pen-and-ink sketches of some of the most curi- 

 ous of these as they appeared under his lens. These were repro- 

 duced in the lithographic plates of his log,"'^ not because they pos- 

 sessed any value in the estimation of the naturahst, for they did 

 not, but simply with the hope that they might provoke more skill- 

 ful eyes and hands to the work, and ultimately tempt experts to 

 enter this field and undertake the ^' insects of the sea" in a regu- 

 lar way. 



This hope soon met with encouragement, ^he fac-simile of 

 Foster's log fell into the hands of Captain Henry Toynbee, of the 

 English East Indiaman the Gloriana, then on a v.oyage from En- 

 gland to India, with a regiment of British soldiers on board. Mr. 

 Welsh, the surgeon, had a microscope ; and Mrs. Toynbee, among 

 her many and elegant accomplishments, could draw and sketch 

 most beautifully. Whenever the ship was becalmed, or had but 

 little wind, they threw out their net for " insects," and became 

 deeply interested, but only as amateurs, in delineating many of 



* Sec Maury's Sailing Directions, 1855. 



