290 BULLETIN OF THE 
or attached to the trap of the trawl. Studer gives a long list of the 
depths from which they came up attached to the sounding-line, but it is 
by no means certain that these Siphonophores belonged in the depths 
indicated by the wire. They may have become caught on the wire while 
it was reeling in at only a short distance from the surface.* The fact that 
Studer never succeeded in bringing up any of these species in the tow-net, 
even when lowered to a considerable depth, is as little conclusive, since, 
at any rate in the Caribbean Sea, their isolated parts and fragments are 
not uncommon floating on the surface. It is probable that they usually 
live at a certain depth below the surface, and some of them may, like 
Cassiopea, prefer to dwell near the bottom; but until we possess a net 
so constructed as to give some sure indication of the intermediate depths 
at which the animals living at various distances between the surface and 
bottom have been gathered in, it seems hazardous to define the bathy- 
metrical range of a large number of pelasgic animals, such as the Aca- 
lephs, Siphonophores, Hetropods, Pteropods, numerous Foraminifera, 
Radiolaria, and the like, the habits of which are scarcely known. 
In the case of Fishes, when dredging in deep water at a moderate 
distance from the land, we ought not to take it for granted that they 
invariably live at the depth to which the trawl may have been lowered. 
The young of many of the deep-water Fishes are undoubtedly pelasgio, 
often till a late period of growth, and thus many of the deep-water 
Fishes have probably come to light, especially in the proximity of 
oceanic islands or along coasts situated near deep water. We made 
three casts off the coast of Cuba, between Nuevitas and Cape Maysi. 
In lat. 21° 2, N., long. 74° 44’, W., off Cayo de Moa, in 1,554 fathoms, 
we found a patch of green sand, made up of large Globigerine, similar 
to that mentioned by Mr. Pourtalés in his “ Deep-Sea Corals.” 
We also obtained, in 994 fathoms off Nuevitas, large blocks of genuine 
white chalk, composed mainly of Globigerino and Rotuline. Large 
quantities of ooze and white clay, which proved to be only the white 
chalk in different stages of compression, also came up in the trawl. If 
the conditions now existing at that depth at all resemble those of the 
time of the white chalk, I could readily understand how perfectly Sea- 
Urchins or Mollusks would be preserved if once enclosed in this homo- 
geneous substance, to be gradually compressed into solid white chalk. 
In one of the hauls taken between Cape Maysi and Jamaica (1,200 
* In one case, dredging in 1,000 fathoms, numerous fragments of a Rhizophysa came up 
after drawing in 100 fathoms of wire! On another occasion, the same species came up 
after drawing in 800 fathoms, while dredging in 500 fathoms. 
