at Great Depths in the Sea. 397 



Mr. Jeffreys states that " dnriiij^ the receiit expedition to 

 survey the North Athintic TelcgrHj)h line, there was only one 

 piece* of drift-wood met with in the Arctic Sea which showed 

 any marks of having been perforated by marine animals ;^^ and 

 that this piece of wood, which " was ])icked np by the ' Fox/ on 

 the 13th Sept. I860, off the east coast of Greenland, in lat. 

 60° 54' N., long. 41° 58' W.," had, through the intervention of 

 the commander of II. M.S. 'Bulldog,' been submitted to his 

 (Mr. Jeffrey s's) examination. On making sections of this piece 

 of wood, which '' ai)peared to have been much rubbed and frayed, 

 probably by attrition against loose or Jloatiny ice," Mr. Jeffreys 

 says he found '•' that the perforations had been caused by a kind 

 of Annelid, and that they extended to a considerable depth, 

 although they were of a different nature from the tunnels made 

 by any kind of Teredo," — the ])aragraph from which these ex- 

 tracts are quoted concluding with the statement that, reference 

 having been made by Mr. Jeffreys "to the account given by the 

 late Sir John Ross of his ' Voyage of Discovery to the Arctic 

 Regions,' which was published in 1819," he found "that in 

 many of the deep-sea soundings " which are so accurately de- 

 scribed by that navigator, "living 'sea-worms' (or Annelids) 

 occurred at depths varying from 192 to 1000 fathoms." 



I confess myself at no slight loss to trace the bearing of the 

 "fact" adduced by Mr. Jeffreys upon deep-sea soundings, or 

 oceanic telegraphy, and still more at a loss to establish any 

 rational connexion between it and the "inference" which is made 

 to follow — an inference long since universally recognized as de- 

 ducible from a very different series of observations — namely, 

 " that proper precautions ought to be taken to prevent the cable 

 being injured, and the telegraphic action affected, by marine 

 animals of perforating habits. No vegetable substance," Mr. 

 Jeffreys goes on to say, "is free from their attacks;" and, as 



* Mr. Jeffreys labours mulcr a misconception on this point. At page 28 

 of my " Notes on the Presence of Animal Life at vast Depths in the Sea," 

 I state that " on two occasions only, during the cruise of the expedition 

 on the coast of Greenland, was drift-timber fallen in with. Both specimens 

 were of pine, completely sodden by long immersion, and exhibiting no 

 trace of epiphytic growths or parasitic animalcules, from which some clue 

 might possibly have been obtained as to their source." This remark 

 having reference solely to the peculiar nature of the .\rctic current of the 

 season in question, I made no mention of fragments of drift-timber, which 

 I rej>eatedlv came across whilst dredging in the shi])'s dingy amongst 

 the fiords. Several of the pieces picked u|) by me in these channels were 

 more or loss pierced; but I failed to detect any remarkable telegraphic 

 significance in these tempest-worn but still floatiny derelicts. It is to be 

 ])resumed, I suppose, that the piece of drift-wood picked up by the 'Fox* 

 did not grow at the bottom of the sea. 



N.B. The italics iu the quotation are mine. — G. C. W. 



