42 BULLETIN OF THE 
tion along our coasts. We can distinguish, to a certain extent, an 
Arctic, an Acadian, a Virginian, or a West Indian district, as it were, 
among the Acalephs and other pelagic forms close to our shores, But 
when we come to attack the problem of the distribution of the pelagic 
forms of the oceanic basins, we are at a loss, with our present knowledge, 
to recognize anything beyond geographical realms practically correspond- 
ing to the arctic, temperate, and tropical regions of the oceans. The 
results of the only expedition which has as yet made a preliminary 
survey of the North Atlantic are not published, and they will probably 
show us how complicated the problem is when examined with reference 
to both a horizontal and a bathymetrical range. This part of the prob- 
lem has been ignored by Haeckel. 
To satisfy ourselves of the difficulty of determining the bathymetrical 
range of pelagic animals by differentiation of the contents of tow-nets 
sent down open to tow at different depths, we spent some time at Station 
3282 in sending open tow-nets to 100 and 200 fathoms, and also at two 
other stations, with the following results. 
On March 7th we lowered a large surface tow-net to a depth of 200 
fathoms, and towed at that depth for fifteen minutes, bringing the open 
net rapidly to the surface at the usual rate. This trial was made 
at Station 3382, the bottom depth being 1,793 fathoms, the distance 
from the 100 fathom line about sixty miles, and the distance from land 
seventy miles. 
The bulk of the material collected consisted of masses of a small spe- 
cies of Doliolum and of Sagitta, among these many of the large species 
of these genera previously mentioned. Among the other pelagic mate- 
rial were to be found the separate bells of the large Siphonophore first 
observed off Mariato Point, fragments of an Agalma as well as of the huge 
Pterophysa so often brought up on the dredging-wire rope, many bells 
of Crystallodes, and species of Diphyes. The other Acalephs were rep- 
resented by species of Cytaeis, of Liriope, of /Equorea, of Saphenia, of a 
Melicertum-like genus, and a Stomobrachium, a very delicate pyriform 
Mertensia remarkable for the great length of its funnel, a Cunina, and 
a Discophore allied to Nauphanta. The Heteropods were represented 
by a species of Firoloides. Finally, the surface swarmed with Orbulinse 
having an orange-red nucleus ; also specimens of Polyipnus and of an- 
other Scopelid, of Gonostoma, and of a small fish allied to Astronesthes, 
several species of delicately tinted rose-colored shrimps in different 
stages of growth, as well as many larval stages, specimens of Phronima 
and Hyperia, many young Squille, » large semi-transparent Calanus, 
many Copepods, and many species of Sergestes. 
