” 
J. W. Bailey on Deep Soundings from the Atlantic Ocean. 177 
The soundings examined were as follows: 
1080 fathoms, Latitude 42° 04’ North, Longitude 29° 00’ West, July 25, 1853. 
1860 “ “ 3° ? “ “ ie) Ud “ “ 18, “ 
1580 “ f 49° 56/ 30” i 139 187 461/ * Ang, 22; fH 
Led wet OB Ee ue A 09° 087 “<r . No date, 
2000 “ “ 54° +7t “ “ 92° $3’ “ “ “ 
As these soundings are believed to be the deepest ever submit- 
ted to microscopic examination, and were obtained at localities 
far remote from those previously noticed, they were studied very 
carefully, and the following are the facts ascertained : 
. None of these soundings contain a particle of gravel, sand, 
or other recognizable unorganized mineral matter 
2. They all agree in being almost entirely made up of the cal- 
careous shells of minute, or microscopic Foraminifere ( Polytha- 
lamia, Ehr.), among which the species of Globigerina greatly 
predominate in all the specimens, while Orbulina universa, D’Orb., 
is in immense numbers in some of the soundings, and particularly 
abundant in that from 1800 fathoms. 
Diatoms, among which Coscinodiscus lineatus, C. excentricus, 
- They all contain spicules of sponges, and a few specimens 
of Dietyocha fibula, Ebr. 
ing to the group of Agathistegues (Plicatilia, Khr.), a group 
Which appears to be confined to shallow waters, and which in the 
fossil state first appears in the tertiary, where it abounds. 
traces of the Marginulina Bacheii, B., Textilaria Atlantica, B., 
Pasther species characteristic of the soundings of the western 
tic, 
9. Examined by chromatic polarized light, the foraminiferdus 
shells in these soundings showed beautiful colored crosses in their 
cells, and the mud accompanying them also became colored, 
owing that it is not an amorphous chemical precipitate. It in 
qerean be traced through fragments of various sizes, to the per- 
“et shells of the Foraminifere. 
10. In the vast amount of pelagic Foraminifere, and in the 
“atire absence of sand, these soundings strikingly resemble the 
Serius, Vol. XVII, No. 50.—Mareh, 1854. 28 
