iqS 



NATURE 



\_Dec. 



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trochtes, a Stomias with phosphorescent spots, and 

 several Malacostei. 



Between Senegal and the Cape Verde Islands our 

 trawls reached depths varying from 3200 to 3699 metres, 

 and brought up most of the preceding species besides 

 many others (Crustaceans, MoUusks, Zoophytes, Sponges) 

 which had never elsewhere been met. 



These last takes brought to a close the first part of our 

 programme, and on July 20, after ninety-one days of naviga- 

 tion, we cast anchor in the Bay of La Praia, at Santiago 

 in the Cape Verde Archipelago. This volcanic group de- 

 tained us a few days, and while zoological, botanical, 

 and geological excursions were being made ashore, the 

 Tiilismaii was searching the irregular beds on the coasts 

 for marine animals, and especially for the red coral, which 

 for some years back has formed the object of an active trade 

 in these islands. I will not dwell on these in-shore explora- 

 tions, nor on those of the islet Blanco, where we were able 

 to study on the spot the large Saurians {Macroscincus 

 coctci) which seem limited to this isolated rock. 



All these details are recorded in the report which I 

 have addressed to the Minister and which will soon be 

 published. 



In the deep waters of the Cape Verde Archipelago life 

 displays a surprising energy. Our nets came up over- 

 flowing with specimens after a single plunge. We cap- 

 tured at one take more than 1000 fishes belonging mostly 

 to the genus Melanocephalus, about 1000 Pandali, 500 

 prawns of a new species of the genus Nematocarcinus, 

 with disproportionately long claws, as well as many 

 other species. 



On the evening of July 30 the Talisman took a north- 

 westerly course in the direction of the Sargassum .Sea. I 

 need not enter into details on this part of our journey, and 

 it will suffice to say that we nowhere met those dense 

 floating masses of vegetation mentioned by the old 

 navigators. The Gulf weed was seen in isolated patches 

 drifting either with the marine or atmospheric currents, 

 and harbouring a whole pelasgic population, whose colours 

 harmonised admirably with those of the alga; that afforded 

 them a refuge. Our naturalists made a careful study of 

 these forms. 



The soundings of the Talisman in this region show in a 

 general way that, starting from the Cape Verde Islands, the 

 marine bed falls regularly as far as about the 25th parallel, 

 where it attains a depth of 6267 metres. Then it gradually 

 rises towards the Azores and the 35th parallel, where it is 

 about 3000 metres. Tliese results are far from agreeing 

 with the curves indicated on the most recent bath) metric 

 charts. The bed of the Sargassum Sea seems formed of a 

 thick layer of a very fine mud of a pumice nature, cover- 

 ing fragments of punnce and volcanic rocks. Here there 

 would appear to stretch, at over three miles from the surface 

 of the ocean, a vast volcanic chain parallel with the ."Xfrican 

 seashore, and of which the Cape \'erde Islands, the 

 Canaries, Madeira, and the .Azores arc the only parts not 

 submerged. The submarine fauna is poor, consisting of 

 few fishes, some Crustaceans, such as Paguri, which 

 lodge in colonies of Epizoanthus, prawns of the genus 

 Nematocarcinus, Pasiphare, a few mollusks (Fusus, 

 Pleurotoma, and Leda), which scarcely sufficed to repay 

 the time required for such deep dredgings. Not that our 

 captures did not again become abundant towards the 

 northern limit of the Sargasse Sea, when the depths 

 shrank to 3000, 2000, and 1500 metres. It was here that 

 we took the giant of the family of the Schizopodes, a 

 Gnathophausia of a blood-red colour measuring nearly 

 25 centimetres in length. ^ 



A short delay at Fayal, and again at San Miguel in 

 the Azores, enabled us to compare the volcanic phenomena 

 still active at certain points with those we had studied on 

 the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. The analogy is very 

 striking between the rocks, the gaseous products, and the 



^ Onathophausi/i goiiaik, new speciss. 



sulphur deposits of the two islands. From what is now 

 taking place on the surface of the ground, an idea may 

 be formed of the submarine convulsions which have 

 covered the bed of the Sargassum Sea with pumice and 

 igneous ro:;ks. 



The return voyage from the Azores to France was 

 effected under the most favourable conditions, and we 

 were able to make daily dredgings in depths of from 4000 

 to 5000 metres. These difficult operations, very skilfully 

 carried out by Captain Parfait, brought us an extremely 

 valuable harvest. Under this tremendous pressure, in 

 perfect darkness, and without a trace of vegetation, 

 animal life is still vigorous. Large fishes of the genus 

 Macrurus, as well as some Scopeli and Melanoceti seem 

 to be here far from rare. .Some Pagurcs and Galatheas of 

 new form, a gigantic Nymphon of the genus Colossendeis, 

 some unknown Ethusa;, besides Amphipods and Cir- 

 rhipeds represent the Crustacean group. But this 

 abyssal fauna owes its peculiar physiognomy to the 

 number, variety, and size of the Holothurians. 



The marine bed is carpeted throughout this region 

 with a thick white mud, composed almost exclusively of 

 Globigerini, and covering pumice deposits and fragments 

 of various kinds of rocks. Some of these rocks brought 

 up in our nets bore the impress of fossils, amongst others 

 of Trilobites. But what still more surprised lus was to 

 find at a distance of over 700 miles from the European coast 

 pebbles polished and striated by the action of ice. The 

 sharpness of the stris excludes the supposition of trans- 

 port by the currents. The presence of these pebbles is 

 probably due to the action of the icebergs, which in 

 the Quaternary epoch advanced further southwards than at 

 present, and which, by melting in the region of the 

 Atlantic comprised between the Azores and France, 

 deposited on the bottom of the sea the stones carried oft 

 from the glacier beds and conveyed to this distance from 

 Europe. 



On August 30 we dredged for the last time on the steep 

 slope by which the oceanic depths are connected with the 

 Bay of Biscay, and our captures added to the fauna of the 

 French waters a large number of new or interesting 

 species. 



It was high time to return to Rochefort. Our casks and 

 cases were full, our alcohol exhausted. This voyage ^has 

 furnished us with unrivalled materials for study, mate- 

 rials which must now be put in order. The Minister of 

 Public Instruction has recognised their importance, and 

 has supplied me with the means of beginning the publi- 

 cation of the results. It is my intention to place before 

 the public the collections that have been made during the 

 explorations of the TravailUur and Talisinan. These 

 treasures will be exposed in a special exhibition, which 

 will be held in one of the halls of the museum towards 

 the beginning of January. 



MUSIC AND SCIENCE ' 



IT would seem that Science, like History, may at times 

 repeat itself: for in this bright little pamphlet we 

 have a revival of the Old World controversy, which dates 

 from the days of Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and Euclid. 

 The author takes, however, for its text, a somewhat de- 

 clamatory and atl captandum modern passage from the 

 Revue tie Paris, which declares, with an emotional 

 warmth totally uncalled for under the circumstances, that 

 harmony is not a science, and that music is an art, " but 

 a divine art." To appreciate thoroughly the question in 

 debate it is necessary to go back to the sense of the 

 original Greek words — upfiovia and novo-Urj. The former 

 means "mathematical agreement" ; the second "artistic 

 culture." It is with their " second intentions," or 

 acquired and more limited meanings, that we now have 



' "La Miisic.i e vina Scienza." Saggio Acustico fisiologico Del Dott. 

 Prnno Crutti. Pp. S5 Luigi Battel Editore. (Parma, 1883.) 



