DESCRIPTION OF THE EXPEDITION. Lz 
took a series of plankton hauls by putting out nets of 60 and 180 meshes to the inch 
and hauling them in at each hour of the night. The value of the collections of animals 
obtained in this and other hauls can only be seen after they have been worked out. 
There was very little current close inshore; but the fauna appeared to be a rich one, 
practically most groups of animals being represented. Some of the ordinary and 
more conspicuous forms found to the north were absent, but in exchange, even in 
the deepest hauls, there was in particular a quantity of small Entomostraca which 
we had not seen before. Some were true pelagic animals, but others we could not but 
suspect to be local forms from the slopes of the island; a few may well turn out to be 
Antarctic forms. 
The following morning we went up to Port Louis, when one of us (Gardiner) landed 
in the steamboat to get mosquito-cloth with which to replace our large plankton net, 
which we intended to make even longer than before. Meanwhile the other dredged on 
the outer slopes of the island in front of Port Louis. On the following day both of us 
continued the same series of hauls up to the north of the island until, opposite Flat 
Island, we were exposed to the full force of the south-cast wind, and further work of 
that nature was impossible. We also put down a number of soundings, which in general 
confirmed the depths given in the charts, and showed the bottom to-be covered with 
broken coral and shells, together with stones and crystals of volcanic material from the 
island. Our dredgings were made more to ascertain the nature of the bottom than to 
procure specimens. From our soundings it was obvious that the slope from 50 to 
100 fathoms was as steep as off coral-reefs, but beyond that we found that it tailed off, 
the drop for the first three miles outside the 100-fathom line being at the rate of. about 
400 fathoms per mile. At first we paid attention to the foot of the slope, subsequently 
working out to 600 fathoms. This was anxious work, as in the shallower water up to 
400 fathoms the dredges only moved along in a series of jerks, often compressing the 
springs of the accumulator for 5 to 6 inches, a strain of 3 to 4 tons. Once the wire was 
pulled directly off the drum against the winch, and several times the dredges were so 
caught up in spite of stoppers * that we had to swing round or go astern and trip them, 
always a long business. Yet, in spite of all precautions, in eight hauls we lost one 
dredge, broke up two others, and in every case tore their hags. These disasters clearly 
show the rough nature of the ground over which we were working. In addition we 
secured a large quantity of loose rock, the ground at the base of the steep, 100 to 
150 fathoms, appearing to be formed by dead masses of coral from the reef above, with 
an odd boulder of voleanic nature. This coral-rock was much bored into by sponges, 
worms, crustaceans, and molluses, some forms of which appeared to be the same as were 
commonly found on the surface-reefs. Further out the rubble became smaller and 
smaller, until at 300 fathoms the bottom was apparently hard rock with a few rough 
lumps. From between 400 and 600 fathoms was brought up a coherent, grey, sandy 
mud, partly of reef-formation, and partly of volcanic material, smelling strongly of 
* Generally the warp is fastened to one arm of the dredge, the other arms being attached by stoppers of cord. 
Should the dredge catch up in rocks these stoppers ought to break first, so that it can be hauled free by one end, 
13* 
