Sept. 12, 1878] 



NATURE 



535 



and the most complete series possible of all species of which 

 there were duplicates to be sent at once to the British Museum, 

 and that afterwards duplicates should be arranged in sets, and 

 distributed to museums at hom.e and abroad, according to a 

 scheme to be sanctioned by their lordships. 



Many considerations entered into the selection of the experts, 

 into whose hands this vast collection of new material was to be 

 placed. As I was solely responsible to Government for the 

 general re.-ult, I was of course obliged to undertake this duty ; 

 hut I rarely trusted my own judgment, acting in most cases with 

 the advice and sanction of one or other, the weight of whose 

 opinion on the special question at issue would be universally 

 recognised. My sole object was to carry out the task intrusted 

 to me to the best of my ability, and to prepare and to submit to 

 Government the most complete report possible, and I asked the 

 co-operation of men who, in my judgment, were the most likely 

 to insure this result. I have to acknowledge, with profound 

 gratitude, the frank readiness with which almost eveiy appeal 

 for assistance Avas responded to, and it is a matter of great satis- 

 faction to me that the plan of work, which is the result of these 

 arrangements, has elicited an expression of generaFapproval from 

 nearly all of those to whose opinion on such a question I attach 

 the highest value. 



From what I see at present the official account of the 

 voyage of H.M.S. Challenget may be expected to extend to 

 from fourteen to sixteen quarto volumes of 500 or 600 pages, 

 the whole illustrated by about 1,200 lithographed plates, 

 and many charts, woodcuts, and photographs. The MSS. of 

 the fii'st volume, which will contain a general account of the voy- 

 age, the hydrographic details contributed by Staff-Commander 

 Tizard, the head of the Naval Surveying Staff on board, is 

 nearly completed, and the charts of the ship's course and the 

 sections showing the vertical distribution of ocean temperature 

 which illustrate this volume, are in course of preparation. The 

 second volume will consist_chiefly of tables, and will include 

 a report on the magnetic observations made during the voyage, 

 drawn up under the superintendence of the Hydrographer to the 

 Navy ; and a detailed report on the meteorology, prepared by 

 Capt. Tizard. The greater part of this volume is already in 

 print, and I place before you a copy of the Magnetic Report, 

 which will give an idea of the general appearance of the book. 



Another volume will contain the discussion of the nature and 

 composition and source of the deposits forming at the bottom of 

 the sea, the composition and specific gravity of the sea-water, 

 and the proportions of its contained gases, and sundry other 

 questions, chemical and physical; and the remainder of the 

 work will be occupied by a series of memoirs by different 

 authors on the various groups of animals which constitute the 

 deep-sea fauna. A large number of these monographs are in 

 progress, and I hold in my hand a series of about 150 plates of 

 natural objects which are now on the stone. 



Only one department is finished ; and I have here to record 

 my special obligation to my friend Mr. Thomas Davidson for a 

 most complete and thorough memoir on the Brachiopodn of the 

 expedition. Mr. Davidson has not only figured all the species 

 himself with the utmost care, but he has added to his descrip- 

 tions of the Challenger forms a discussion of the relations which 

 they bear, in structure and distribution, to all other known 

 living forms, which greatly enhances the value of his mono- 

 graph. 



The illustration of the Foraminijera has been undertaken by 

 Mr. Henry Brady, and a rapidly-thickening pile of plates testi- 

 fies to the diligence of his artist, Mr. Hollick. 



This plate represents several forms of a remarkable little 

 group of Rhizopods in . some ways intermediate between the 

 Foraminifera and tie Radiolaria, to which we have given the 

 name Challengerida, as the twenty or thirty species of which the 

 group is composed seem hitherto to have escaped observation. 



A splendid memoir by Prof. Haeckel, on the Radiolaria, is 

 in progress, and will be illustrated by upwards of a hundred 

 plates. Everyone acquainted with llaeckel's classical work, 

 "Die Radiolarien," will appreciate our good fortune in having 

 secured his co-operation. 



The next series of plates prepared under the direction of Mr. 

 Moseley represent the deep-sea corals, and the next series, also 

 by Mr. Moseley, illustrate a most remarkable series of coralloid 

 forms of Hydrozoa, on whose structure and relations Mr. Mose- 

 ley's careful work during the voyage and since our return has 

 thrown quite unexpected light. The normal Hydrozoa are in 

 Ihe hands of Prof. AUman, but ©wing to our having already 



secured for other departments the services of nearly all the 

 available British artists experienced in natural-history drawing, 

 he has not been able as yet to make much progress. Prof. 

 Haeckel will describe the deep-water Medusae, few in number, 

 but of the highest interest. 



Echinoda-maia are very abundant in the abyssal region. I have 

 undertaken to describe a portion of the first class of this type, 

 the Stalked Crinoids, and upwards of twenty plates are on the 

 stone, illustrating their structure. The drawings are by Mr. 

 William Black, one of the most successful students in the Edin- 

 burgh School of Art under the Science and Art Department, 

 and now an accomplished natural-history draughtsman. And 

 Mr. Herbert Carpenter takes up the Comahilidce, a group rich 

 in undescribed species, which he is studying, along with the 

 valuable collection procured by Prof. Semper in the Philippines. 



Prof. Alexander Agassiz is progressing rapidly with the 

 Echinidea, and his monograph, exquisitely illustrated as all these 

 American memoirs are, will probably be among those first 

 finished. Mr. Lyman is working at the Ophiuridea, which he 

 says are very numerous and almost all new, and I expect Mr. 

 Theel, of Upsala, to come over shortly to examine the Holo- 

 thuridea, which he is going to describe under the general super- 

 intendence of Prof. Loven. The Swedish Arctic Expeditions 

 have already yielded some of the most characteristic abyssal 

 forms of this group, and these we know through the excellent 

 memoirs of Mr. Theel. S 



This bundle of beautiful plates drawn under the eye of Mr. 

 Busk, illustrate the Polyzoa, a group which descends to the 

 greatest depths, represented by many undescribed and charac- 

 terist'c genera. 



Dr. Mcintosh is working out the Annelida, and will require 

 a volume to himself, while several hands are occupied with the 

 Crustacea, Mr. S pence Bate taking the heaviest part of the work 

 in the Macivura, Prof. George Brady describing the Copepoda 

 and Ostracoda with many beautifxd plates, some drawn by him- 

 self and others with the assistance of artists ; and Prof. Huxley 

 dealing with the Anonioura, which some of his recent investiga- 

 tions have given for him a special interest. Mr. R. Boog 

 Watson undertakes the lower Mollusca, a heavy task involving 

 the steady work of a year or two, and a ponderous volume, in 

 which he receives the friendly assistance of our colleague. Dr. 

 Gwyn Jeffreys, Mr. Edgar Smith, and other conchologists here 

 and elsewhere ; and Prof. Huxley closes the Invertebrates with 

 a monograph of the Cephalopoda, culminating in a gem of a 

 memoir on the structure of Spirula, the drawings done by his 

 own hand from the careful dissection of the single specimen 

 which we procured. 



Brief descriptions of the deep-sea fishes have already been 

 published by Dr. Giinther, and the final memoir is in prepara- 

 tion ; the birds in which group rhere are a comparatively small 

 number, are in the charge of Dr. Sclater ; and some anatomical 

 details involving important additions to our knowledge of the 

 structure of the Cetacea, the Marsupialia, and the Penguins 

 have been worked out by Prof. Turner, Prof. Morrison Watson, 

 and Dr. Cunningham. 



It will be seen that in the foregoing notes many important 

 groups of marine invertebrates are still unaccounted for. These 

 are cases in which it has not yet been found possible to com- 

 mence work from want of artists or some other cause, or in 

 which the naturalists engaged have not yet reported progress. I 

 have every hope that all will be under way in the course of 

 another year. 



Perhaps I have said enough to show that a report is in pro- 

 gress of preparation, which may be expected to register in a 

 suitable form the results of a great scientific expedition. Some 

 causes of delay have occurred, and there has been the regulation 

 amount of friction inseparable from the working of a complicated 

 piece of machinery, but my feeling is that on the whole things 

 are going on wonderfully well, and the utmost I anticipate is the 

 necessity for a little extension of time for the appearance of the 

 later volumes. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Dr. Mansfield Merriman, author of the " Elements of 

 the Method of Least Squares," and for several years past an 

 instructor in the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College, has 

 accepted the Professorship of Civil and Mechanical Engineering 



