THE FIRST ALBATROSS EXPEDITION 247 



what the Albatross herself has accomplished along the 

 west coast of North and South America. The Challen- 

 ger, as you will remember, came from Japan to the 

 Sandwich Islands, and from there south across to Juan 

 Fernandez, leaving, as it were, a huge field of which 

 we are attacking the middle wedge. As far as we have 

 gone, it seems very evident that, even in dee}) water, 

 there is on this west coast of Central America a con- 

 siderable fauna which finds its parallel in the West In- 

 dies, and recalls the pre-Cretaceous times when the 

 Caribbean Sea was practically a bay of the Pacific. 

 There are, indeed, a number of genera in the deep 

 water, and to some extent also in the shallower depths, 

 which show far greater affinity with the Pacific than 

 with the Atlantic fauna. Of course, further exploration 

 may show that some of these genera are simply genera of 

 a wider geographical distribution ; but I think a suffi- 

 ciently large portion of the deep-sea fauna will still attest 

 the former connection of the Pacific and the Atlantic. 



I am thus far somewhat disappointed in the richness 

 of the deep-sea fauna in the Panamic district. It cer- 

 tainly does not compare with that of the West Indian 

 or Eastern United States side. I have little doubt that 

 this comparative poverty is due to the absence of a 

 great oceanic current like the Gulf Stream, bringing 

 with it on its surface a large amount of food which 

 serves to supply the deep-sea fauna along its course. 

 In the regions we have explored up to this time, cur- 

 rents from the north and from the south meet, and then 

 are diverted to a westerly direction, forming a sort of 

 current doldrums, turning west or east or south or north 

 according to the direction of the prevailing wind. The 

 amount of food which these currents carry is small com- 



