226 Miscellaneous. 
and on the 20th July, after fifty-one days’ sailing, we cast anchor 
in the Bay of Praia, at Santiago, in the Cape-Verd Islands. 
These volcanic islands detained us some days, and while zoclogical, 
botanical, and geological excursions were made on land, the ‘ Talis- 
man’ investigated the irregular littoral regions in search of marine 
animals, and, in particular, the red coral which has been for some 
years the object of an active commerce on these shores. I shall 
not dwell upon these littoral researches any more than upon the 
exploration of the islet of Branco, where we studied, in their home, 
the great lizards (Macroscincus Coctec), which seem to be confined 
to this isolated rock. All these details find their place in the report 
which I have addressed to the Ministry, and of which the publi- 
cation will take place shortly. 
In the depths of these seas off Cape Verd, life has an astonishing 
vigour. Our nets came up filled to the brim; at one cast we have 
taken more than 1000 fishes, belonging for the most part to the 
genus Melanocephalus, more than 1000 Pandali, 500 shrimps of a 
new species with enormously long legs (Nematocarcinus), as well 
as many other species. 
On the 30th July, the ‘ Talisman’ started to the north-west and 
sailed towards the Sargasso Sea. I will not enlarge upon this part 
of our journey; it will be sufficient for me to say that in no part 
have we met with those floating meadows of which the older navi- 
gators speak. The Sargassos appeared in isolated bundles floating, 
in definitely oriented lines, in the direction of the winds or of the 
currents, and sheltering a whole pelagic population of which the 
colours harmonized admirably with those of the seaweeds which 
serve them as a refuge; the naturalists on board made a careful 
study of them. 
The soundings of the ‘ Talisman’ in this part of the Atlantic 
show in a general way that, starting from the Cape-Verd Islands, 
the bottom deepens regularly to about the 25th parallel, where it 
reaches 6267 metres, then it gradually rises again towards the 
Azores, and under the 35th parallel it is no longer more than 3000 
metres. These results are far from agreeing with the curves 
indicated on the most recent bathymetric charts. The bed of the 
Sargasso Sea seems to be formed of a thick layer of very fine mud 
of a pumiceous nature, containing fragments of pumice-stone and of 
volcanic rocks. 
It seems that there may be here, at more than a league below 
the surface of the water, an immense voleanic chain parallel to the 
coast of Africa, and of which the Cape-Verd Islands, the Canaries, 
Madeira, and the Azores would be the only emergent points. 
The submarine fauna is poor; it is composed of a few fishes, of 
some Crustaceans, such as Paguri, lodged in colonies of Epizoanthi, 
shrimps of the genus Nematocarcinus, and species of Pasiphaé, and 
of a few Mollusca (Fusus, Plewrotoma, and Leda), which scarcely 
sufficed to compensate us for the time which dredgings so deep as 
these occupied. 
It was not until about the northern limit of the Sargasso Sea, 
