HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEEP-SEA WORK. 43 
In Great Britain, ever since the time of Forbes, dredging ex- 
peditions have been undertaken, limited, however, to the more 
shallow regions accessible by private means. The reports of the 
dredging committee of the British Association have made the 
names of Gwyn Jeffreys, of Norman, of Barrett, and Andrews, 
familiar to students of marine zodlogy, while in this country the 
shore dredgings of Stimpson, Dr. Ayres, Lieutenant Kurtz, and 
of expeditions sent out by the Cambridge Museum form the 
beginning of American investigations. 
The successful deep dredgings of the Norwegian, Swedish, 
and American expeditions were followed by the English expedi- 
tions with which the name of Wyville Thomson will forever be 
associated. 
Sir Wyville Thomson, who visited Norway to examine the 
collection of deep-sea animals made by the elder and younger 
Sars, from depths varying between 350 and 500 fathoms, could 
not fail to be struck with the variety of the fauna they had col- 
lected. The discovery of Rhizocrinus, a small stalked crinoid, 
the representative of a family of fossil sea-lilies, which һай be- 
come extinct with the chalk, opened to him a vista of what 
might be accomplished by a systematic exploration of the great 
ocean abysses. He had the great satisfaction, in connection 
with Dr. Carpenter and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, to see in succession 
the “ Lightning," © Porcupine,” ©“ Valorous,” and “ Shear- 
water ” placed at their disposal. These explorations culminated 
in the “Challenger” expedition, one of the most remarkable 
scientific explorations sent out by any government. 
In 1868, the “ Lightning" with Thomson and Carpenter ex- 
plored the regions between the Færöes and Scotland, and made 
successful hauls to a depth of 680 fathoms. The two following 
years the “ Porcupine” was placed at the disposal of Messrs. 
Carpenter, Jeffreys, and Thomson, and more extended explora- 
tions were made off the coast of Ireland, the Bay of Biscay, in 
the Atlantic, off Spain, and in the Mediterranean. The ship 
was provided with the improved Miller-Casella thermometer for 
taking the temperatures. These expeditions may be said to 
have awakened in European naturalists general interest in the 
importance of such investigations, and to have settled once for 
