Ci 



MisceUdut'ous. 



inav lu'iliaits lit- worth nmsidcnitioii. At all cvt-nts tin- usual 

 thoorv, that all aiiiiiialH ultiinatrly (Ifpciid I'or their nourishiucul (»n 

 vegetal tic lite, seems not to he aii|iliialile to the main oeeaii, and 

 conseciueutly not to one-half ol' liie earth's surface. 



" .1. (iwvN .Ikikukys." 



It is ([uite unnecessary lor me to eritieis(* the remarkahlt^ o]>iMions 

 hero offered re}j;anlin}^ the Sar}j;asso traet, the elu-mistry of deeom- 

 posinjj animal matter in the oeean, and the relative jiroptu-tions of 

 land and water on the j^lohe. It will he set^n that they are uni(iuo. 

 lint as Mr. Jelfroys lia.s entered the lists as an iiuthority on (leei)-seii 

 lore, and now claims as his own the discovery that jdant-life in 

 absent in the (U'eper re-jjions of the oeean, and the refutation of tho 

 theory (as applied to the iiduihitants of the sen) that "all animids 

 ultinuitely deitend for their nourishment on vej^etahle life," I must 

 he excused if I endeavour to show that he has either forgotten what, 

 at a not very remote jieriod, he professed to have read of my wri- 

 tings on th(>se subjects, or that, not having forgotten them, ho has 

 nevertheU'ss found it t-xpcdient, for some unaccountable reason, to 

 repudiate them, and with them his t>wn published estimate regard- 

 ing their accuracy. 



The absence of nil living vegetation, even of the lowest tyjies, in 

 llu' deeper abysses of the ocean, and the vital process whereby tho 

 nutrition of tlie lowest animal forms is secured in failurt> of any- 

 thing like a rudimentary digestive apparatus, such as is to be found 

 in the higher orders of Khizopods, was dwelt on by me in my ' Notes 

 on the jtresence of Animal Life nt great depths in the Ocean,' pub- 

 lished in Nov. IStiO, p. 27, — in my ' North-Atlantic Sen-bed,' pub- 

 lished in l.S()2, pp. l;}U-13l*, — in a note which ai)peared in tho * An- 

 njils & Mag. Nat. Hist.' for A\ig. IStili, p. Kid, — and in two jHipers 

 contributed by mo to tho 'Monthly JourniJ of Microscopical Science,' 

 for Jnn. 18(50, pp. ;il)-4(>, and Aj)ril of \\n' snme yenr, y\). ^'M-li'SA. 

 Rcferonco to these publications will therefore show that Mr. Jof- 

 freys's statements are, to sny Iho least of them, somewhat behind 

 the times. 



lUit to prove that Mr. .TeftVeys cannot justly plead ignorance lus 

 to what had been previously published l)y me on the subject, I invite 

 attention to two t^xtracts from his '• Keports on Drcdgings," con- 

 tained in the ' Annals' of the respective dates given below. 



' Annuls,' Nov. ISGt'i, p. 'S'^7. 



" Dr. Wiillicli, in liiw lubiiirahlc and 

 " pliilosopliicnl tivatitk' witli wliii-li all 

 " marine zoi>U)f{istB and f^coloj^ista arc, 

 " or oiif^lit to !>•', familiar, liflicviHl that 

 " wrtrtin Btarfirthes" Siv. &.c. ''As to 

 " tfte iifriiftu'i/ of his sfaftmfiifs, no rea- 

 " souiifilt dutilit Clin be enttrtaiiud." 



' Annals,' Oct. 18r»a, p. aori. 



" C'occosiiiiori'S and free l'\)raniini- 

 " fera cover the l>ed of (lie .-Vtlantie at 

 " enormous dcjitlis. Tlio oecurrenco, 

 " tliercfore, of such or^'anmmn on tlio 

 " floor of the ocean al jjreat deptlis 

 "does not jirove tiial ihey ever livini 

 " there. / shoulil rather he inclined to 

 "believe that thri/ drojtped to the 

 " bottom when dead or after haviuif 

 " patised throuph the utomacht of other 

 "animaU which had fed on them" 



