L352 PERCY SLADEN TRUST EXPEDITION. 
comparison with the Maldivian lagoons. We took two batches, sounding about every ten 
minutes. The first five were in water from 40 to 60 fathoms deep, our trawls being 
used, ‘The ground was muddy to start with, but altered as we went north, until in our 
last, a very sbort dredging, the spring showed a great strain. As the trawl came up, its 
frame was seen to be almost bent double (PI. 4, fig. 3), while the net beneath the water’ 
was bulged out and every moment threatened to burst. At first we tried to rig a tackle 
round the bag, but only got immersed for our trouble as the ship rolled. Finally, we had 
to slit the net open and take out its contents in buckets, all the time losing valuable 
Th a | 
NY i: / mH 
0 v 
RAD 
Wi 
Large Trawl as used on H.M.S. Sealark. 
Observe loose ground-ropes attached near the tops of the stirrups. 
animals through its meshes, until at last we could get it on board. It wasa notable 
haul, and one of which we could feel quite certain of the depth throughout, as it cannot 
have covered more than a quarter of a mile of ground. There was an enormous number 
of animals and a great variety of free-living forms. It was, however, chiefly noticeable 
for the great bank of Lithothamnia and for attached Halimeda living at 55 fathoms, the 
ereatest depth obtained for these plants on our cruise. 
While clearing up from the last haul we were steaming north-west towards a shoal on 
the side of which we got one dredging, letting down our big triangular net in 26 fathoms. 
It was a striking contrast to the last in that it yielded at least 16 genera of corals, most of 
