SECT. ii. GLOBIGERIN^E. 49 



and their shells, with their varieties and affinities, 

 have been determined with an accuracy that does honour 

 to microscopic science. 



They are now arranged in a natural system by 

 William B. Carpenter, M.D. F.R.S. assisted by William 

 K. Parker, Esq., and T. Eupert Jones, Esq., and pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the Ray Society in 1862. 

 To this admirable work, the author is highly indebted. 



It was known that different types of Eoraminifera 

 abound at different depths on the coasts of the ocean ; 

 but it was long believed that no living creature could 

 exist in its dark and profound abyss. By deep-sea 

 sounding, it has been ascertained that the basin of the 

 Atlantic Ocean is a profound and vast hollow or trough, 

 extending from pole to pole ; in the far south, it is of 

 unknown depth, and the deepest part in the north is 

 supposed to be between the Bermudas and the Great 

 Banks of Newfoundland. But by a regular series of 

 soundings made by the officers of the navies of Great 

 Britain and the United States, for the purpose of laying 

 a telegraphic cable, that great plain or steppe was 

 discovered, now so well known as the telegraphic 

 plateau, which extends between Cape Race in New- 

 foundland, and Cape Clear in Ireland. From depths of 

 more than 2,000 fathoms on this plateau, the ooze 

 brought up by the sounding machine consisted of 

 97 per cent, of Globigerinse. The high state of preser- 

 vation of these delicate shells was no doubt owing to 

 the perfect tranquillity which prevails at great depths ; 

 for the telegraphic plateau and the bed of the deep 

 ocean everywhere is covered by a stratum of water 

 unruffled by the commotion raised by the hurricane 

 which may be raging on the surface. The greater 

 number of the Globigerinse were dead empty shells ; 

 but although in many the animal matter was quite 

 fresh, Professor Bailly of New York could not believe 



VOL. II. E 



