294 i BULLETIN OF THE 
materially different from that of the Gulf of Mexico and the Straits of 
Florida. It certainly is by no means as rich in animal life at great 
depths. We rarely got from deep water, say between 1,500 and 2,400 
fathoms, the rich hauls so invariably made in the Gulf from depths of 
between 1,200 and 2,000 fathoms. But we found, what was much 
more important for our success, that the range of the greater number 
of the deep-sea species extended within very easy dredging limits, and 
we soon discovered that by dredging mainly between 300 and 1,000 
fathoms we obtained, not only nearly all the species extending to the 
2,000-fathom line, but obtained them in considerable numbers. This 
enabled us, of course, to collect a large amount of material, and the 
collections of this year’s cruise combined with those of the previous 
year, added to the older collections made by Count Pourtalès on the 
“ Bibb,” and to those of the Hassler, make our deep-sea collections but 
little inferior to those of the “ Challenger.” 
I was greatly struck with the large number of our species which, if 
not identical, are at least closely allied to those brought home by the 
“ Challenger ” ; and I was specially disappointed at the absence of types 
not already collected by the great English expedition. I think it can 
be fairly stated that the great outlines of the deep-sea fauna are now 
known, and that, although many interesting forms will undoubtedly be 
dredged in the shallower waters, between 100 and 300 fathoms, we can 
hardly expect to add materially to the types discovered by the dredging 
expeditions of the last ten years. As has been well said by Mr. Moseley 
of the “Challenger,” it becomes somewhat monotonous to find con- 
stantly the same associations of Invertebrates in the deeper hauls, and 
it is only in shallower waters that it is possible to keep up one’s enthu- 
siasm after a few months’ work. I should be inclined, from the expe- 
rience of the past two years, to carry the range of the deep-sea fauna as 
high as 300 or 350 fathoms, and to call the littoral fauna the species 
extending mainly to the 100 or 150 fathom line; from the 100 to the 
300 or 400 fathom line extend the species which are neither littoral nor 
yet have the wide geographical range belonging to species found beyond 
that depth. But this upper limit of the deep-sea fauna must, of course, 
depend upon the temperature, and undoubtedly varies greatly from local 
or partly local causes. 
While dredging to the leeward of the Caribbean Islands we could not 
fail to notice the large accumulations of vegetable matter and of land, 
débris brought up from deep water many miles from the shore. It was 
not an uncommon thing to find at a depth of over 1,000 fathoms, ten or 
