Nature of the so-called u Bathybius." 327 



decomposed by dilute acids, they cannot be organic, and 

 I will, for convenience sake, simply call them coccoliths." 11 

 No further description was given of these bodies at that 

 period. 



In my preliminary sketch of the results obtained by me on 

 board the ' Bulldog,' in the North Atlantic, in 1860, entitled, 

 u Notes on the Presence of Animal Life at vast Depths in the 

 Ocean "*, written at sea, and published in November of 

 that year within a few days of my return from the expedi- 

 tion, I made the following statement : — " In almost every 

 sample of Globigerina-ooze these bodies (the l coccoliths ') 

 have been detected by me. But I have invariably found 

 associated with them, in greater or less quantity, certain large 

 cell-like masses the average diameter of which is about 

 -nnjoth of an inch, on the immediate surface of which minute 

 bodies were regularly ranged at intervals, so closely resembling 

 the free i coccoliths ' in look and structure as to leave little 

 doubt that the latter are given off from the former. The cell- 

 like central portion, together with the ' coccolith '-like bodies, 

 are imbedded in a gelatinous-looking capsule, the exact nature 

 of which it was out of my power to determine accurately at 

 sea. The association of the largest number of both these 

 kinds of bodies in the soundings in which the Globigerinai 

 were in greatest quantity and in the purest condition, is worthy 

 of notice, and is almost suggestive of their being the larval 

 condition of these organisms. The smallest Globigerina-sheU 

 met with by me in this material measured -jpoiyth of an inch 

 in diameter, and contained but two chambers, the size of the 

 free l coccoliths ' being yffVo-th of an inch in diameter, or 

 five times smaller. In some specimens the ' minute clear 

 centre ' was most distinctly divided into two portions. Much 

 additional investigation will, however, be necessary before any 

 reliable deductions can be arrived at as to the nature and 

 functions of these very remarkable structures "|. 



Again, in the { Annals and Magazine of Natural History ' 

 for July 1861, in a paper " On some novel phases of Organic 

 Life at great Depths in the Sea," I observed that, " in the 

 deepest soundings taken during the recent expedition to the 



* ' Notes on the Presence of Animal Life at vast Depths of the Ocean ' 

 (Taylor & Francis, London, 18G0). This pamphlet was originally printed 

 for presentation only to scientific societies and scientific men, both here 

 and abroad. Almost immediately afterwards, by permission of the 

 Hydrographer to the Admiralty, a new edition was printed and sold in 

 the usual fashion, reviews of it appearing in various scientific journals of. 

 the time. 



t Op. cit. p. 14. 



