318 Annual Report on the U. S. Coast Survey. 
the continuation of the operations will, in due time, afford data 
for the formation of a prediction table of the time of the phases 
of the tide. In the continuance of these observations, valuable 
data will be furnished for studying the phenomena of the oscilla- 
tions of the ocean. 
Collections of Specimens from Soundings.—The charts of 
the coast survey exhibit a perfect representation of the character 
and configuration of the bottom of the ocean within a certain 
distance from land. The idea occurred to Lieut. Bache in 1842, 
to form a collection of all the different materials obtained in the 
sounding operations, and he accordingly commenced reducing 
this idea to practice by placing in small bottles, duly labeled 
specimens of all the materials found at the bottom. It was the 
intention of this lamented officer to form a large geological map 
by glueing on the surface of a suitable chart the several substan- 
ees contained in the bottles, in their proper order and thus at one 
view to present to the eye the means of generalizing the geolog- 
ical phenomena of the submarine formation. 'The plan of a map 
of this kind has not yet been carried into practice, but the collec- 
tion of the materials of the bottom has been continued. 
and in different places are so various, that they might serve to 
identify the position of the mariner and thus furnish another 
which inhabit different depths of water. Every few feet of in- 
crease in the depth give changes in the character of orgaD 
beings which inhabit the ocean. 
