88 Miscellaneous. 



naturalists in comparatively recent times. What Humboldt did 

 with regard to the distribution of life at different heights in the at- 

 mosphere was done by Edward Forbes for the different depths of 

 the ocean. The former's diagrams of the zones of vegetation on the 

 slopes of the Andes are considered indispensable in every atlas of 

 physical geography. But what one man could do where his glance 

 embraced miles of country in height and breadth, and where the type 

 of vegetation could frequently be recognized as far as the eye could 

 reach, an investigator, even as zealous as Forbes, could but sketch in 

 broad though happily drawn lines for the marine animals. 



Much has been done in this direction since Forbes's death, parti- 

 cularly in England, where dredging has become a favourite occu- 

 pation of many naturalists ; the Scandinavian seas have also been 

 explored with much success, chiefly by the Norwegian naturalists ; 

 but much more remains to be done in a field in which the areas to 

 be explored can, as Jeffreys remarks, be reckoned in square degrees, 

 whilst the research extends only over several square yards. 



It is particularly in the greater depths, in the so-called abyssal 

 region, that our knowledge is deficient. This is easihy understood, 

 since on many coasts the sea is comparatively shoal for a consider- 

 able distance from land, and the outfit for deep-sea dredging is 

 beyond the means of all but a few private individuals. Government 

 expeditions are generally fitted out for other duties, and can rarely 

 devote their time to operations occasioning a delay of many hours. 

 Furthermore, owing to the scantiness of the material, the impression 

 generally prevailed, until recently, that animal life was soon reduced 

 to a minimum with an increase of depth, or at least reduced to the 

 lowest forms ; so that the incentive of a rich harvest seemed denied 

 to those who would have undertaken such researches. 



Excepting the investigations of Dr. Stimpson on the coast of New 

 England, the dredge has been as yet very little used along our 

 shores. The character and constituents of the bottom are, however, 

 pretty well known, thanks to the care of the late Superintendent of 

 the Coast Survey, Professor A. D. Bache, who, during his whole 

 administration of that work, required the hydrographical parties to 

 preserve the specimens brought up by the lead. From eight to nine 

 thousand specimens have thus been accumulated at the coast-survey 

 office, from a region comprised between the shore and the outer edge 

 of the Gulf-stream, and reaching nearly to 1500 fathoms. But of 

 course, aside from the Foraminifera and Diatomaceae, for the study of 

 which this material has proved of high interest, not much was con- 

 tributed to our knowledge of the animals of the higher classes, the 

 instrument used being only adapted to procure a small quantity of 

 sand or mud. 



The present Superintendent of the Coast Survey, Professor B. 

 Peirce, has lately directed the resumption of the investigations of the 

 Gulf-stream, so successfully inaugurated by his predecessor, but 

 interrupted for several years by the war. Besides observations of 

 the depth, velocity, and direction of that current, and the tempera- 

 ture and density of the water at different depths, the researches will 

 be extended to the fauna of the bottom, of the surface, and of the 



