66 EXPEDITION OF THE “ALBATROSS,” 1899-1900. 
31° 10’ N., long. 125° W., and terminates at Tahiti off Pt. Venus about in lat. 
17° 30’ S., and long., 149° 30’ W. That of the “ Challenger z. 
of the Hawaiian Islands in lat. 38° 9’ N., and long. 156° 25° W., and 
ending also at Tahiti, converges towards the line of the “ Albatross,” so that 
starting north 
we have an excellent opportunity of comparing the collections of the 
“ Challenger” in the central Pacific with those obtained by the “ Albatross” 
from the great red-clay and manganese-nodule area of the Pacific Ocean 
to the eastward. An examination of the results as recorded by Sir 
John Murray,’ and those which I here give from the trawling of the 
“ Albatross” show plainly that at great depths and far from continental 
areas or insular plateaux the bottom fauna of the great depths is compara- 
tively poor except when the trawling is made in the line of the great 
equatorial currents, where the bottom fauna receives a larger. amount of 
food, derived from the dead remains of the pelagic fauna falling to the 
bottom. 
A similar increase in the number of animals brought up in the trawl 
can also be noted in the hauls made by the “Challenger” on the line east 
of Japan, while practically in the track of the great Japanese current sweep- 
ing to the eastward. In marked contrasts to this line and to the results 
obtained in the track of the equatorial current by the “ Albatross” are the 
scanty hauls obtained by the “ Challenger” from the Admiralty Islands 
north to Japan. 
The line of dredgings made from Tahiti to Valparaiso is also relatively 
richer than the two principal lines across the deepest parts of the central 
Pacific explored by the “Challenger” and “ Albatross.” That is in part 
due to the nature of the bottom, which is often made up of Globigerina ooze, 
and also undoubtedly to the fact that the eastern extension of the “ Chal- 
lenger” line from Tahiti was run in the northern extension of the basin of 
the Southern Ocean, which, as is well known, has supplied a far richer deep- 
water bottom fauna than that found in the intertropical areas of the Pacific. 
To facilitate the comparison between the results obtained in the Pacific 
by the “Challenger” and those of the “ Albatross”? during her trip to the 
1 In the General Summary of the “Challenger” results, and in the Deep Sea Deposits (‘ Chal- 
lenger ” Expedition) by Murray and Renard. : 
amc: emcee hema: emma: tea te 
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