40 



Our sounding now ceased, and this exciting and very interesting work finished. ' 



It is worthy of remark that the general character of all these thirteen soundings, varying in depth 

 from 80 to 2700 fathoms, spreading over an area of upwards of 10,000 square miles from Sable 

 Island to the Azores, shows a remarkable uniformity both in respect of temperature and sea- 

 bottom. One object throughout was to ascertain if in any of these organised forms animal life still 

 existed. After arrival (as I had no microscope of sufficient power on board) they were examined 

 for fourteen days under a powerful microscope, and in no one instance was animal life visible. 



Many hundreds of the animal organisms of Foramiiiifene, Globigerime, Coccoliths, &c., with 

 which the soft light brown and yellow mud abounded, were, after being diluted with clear water, 

 separated from the muddy particles and broken under the lens with a finely-pointed penknife. It 

 required some force to break them, and the sharp shock and cracking was plainly perceptible ; in 

 no instance was life visible. 



The mud, when dry, is either of a pale yellow marl, light brown, or greenish brown colour ; the 

 former containing chiefly Globigerinse or calcareous formations, the second silicious or Diatomacese, 

 and the last silicious spicules of sponges. All are apparently soft mud until rubbed between the 

 fingers, when gritty particles are detected. These are the Globigerinse in great variety of shapes 

 and numbers, some being formed in concentric layers round a transparent centre. 



In the deepest waters and most distant from land were the greatest numbers of perfect specimens 

 of the Globigerinre found ; and as the water decreased in depth and neared irregularities, so they 

 became fragmentary. These facts suggest that, either at the lesser depth some wave-movement, 

 or, may be, current, fractured these delicate organisms, or that their cases were broken by mollusks 

 or other devouring agents for the softer matter in the interior, and the shelly portions then 

 descended to the bottom. 



With many experiments in water, it was found that not only were the Globigerinse of much 

 more specific gravity than the water, but that they sank with a rapidity truly wonderful, and 

 invariably with the convex side downward, and in that position (which was contrary to that in 

 which they lived) remained so. 



In passing the Oaze a second time under the microscope, some new forms were detected, which 

 will be seen in drawings exhibited before the Society;* these are for the most part of silicious 

 formation, some having a thin, irregular, and broken coating of lime ; others as transparent as 



The thin membrane lining in some of the Globigerinse were also noticed, but these could hardly 

 be the remains of the once-living animal. 



Some recent Globigerinas, which appeared discoloured (a light red), were broken ; but no minute 

 granules were inside. 



In the second examination of the Globigerinse I felt compelled to alter my views with regard to 

 the rounded aperture noticed (which I thought may be formed by an annelid), but which I found 

 in every form, larger or smaller, according to age and size. In some instances the apertures were 

 in the two last chambers, the lips of which were smooth and rounded off with a transparent glass- 

 like finish. 



* Fourteen Plates containing upwards of 252 specimens. 



