66 A FORAMINIFEROUS DEPOSIT FROM THE 



Sphseroidina dehiscens Rare. 



Pulvinulina menardii Frequent. 



P. micheliniana Frequent. 



P. elegans Not rare. 



Gaudryina pupoides Not rare. 



Verneuilina propinqua Rather rare. 



Truncatulina lobatula A few. 



Uvigerina asperula Rare. 



Haplophragmium canariense Rather rare. 



H. globigeriniforme Rather rare. 



Nodosaria mucronata Rare. 



Biloculina depressa Rare. 



Some other species and genera appear to be present, as well 

 as occasional diatoms and sponge spicules. The stones appeared 

 to be generally colored with a blackish hue which suggested 

 manganese ; but the only reaction observable was that of iron. 



The presence of the stones, some of them quite large, some of 

 them water-worn, and one at least polished on one side, inter- 

 mingled with the ooze, seems to suggest that they must have 

 been dropped into the deposit in recent time. The only manner 

 in which this could occur is by their dropping from masses 

 of floating ice in the process of dissolution. Have we here 

 debris imprisoned in the glaciers of Iceland, Greenland, or 

 Labrador, swept around the coast into the margin of the Gulf 

 Stream which helps to whirl a great North Atlantic eddy, and 

 at the same time rapidly dissolves the floating ice from distant 

 coasts, and strews the oozy bottom of the ocean with rock and 

 gravel and clays from many lands ? 



Both the changing temperature and changing current noted 

 by Captain Trott would seems to suggest that the steamer was 

 at the time near the contact of the Gulf Stream with this North- 

 West Atlantic edd) . If there is such an eddy, we can easily see 

 that it is building up a vast area of soil on the ocean bottom, 

 which is being transported from the glaciated highlands and 

 coasts of the Arctic regions already referred to. The process 



