40 THREE CRUISES OF THE “ BLAKE.” 
conditions of the strata of water below the surface. But no ex- 
pedition had been fitted out for that purpose alone. In fact, the 
opinion was current among naturalists that beyond the 300 
fathom line the field of the zoülogist was a barren one, notwith- 
standing the many facts to the contrary which had been accumu- 
lating‘ little by little since the beginning of the century. The 
true bearing ' and full importance of these discoveries were 
appreciated only by a few naturalists, who attempted in vain to 
coünterbalance the authority of Edward Forbes, the most bril- 
liant naturalist perhaps of his time. 
The deep-sea work of Forbes in the ZEgean Sea (1841) led 
to the general aeceptance of his theory that animal life was lim- 
ited to a comparatively shallow depth (300 fathoms). The 
peeuliar physical condition of the region studied by Forbes may 
perhaps account for the results he obtained. For a time they 
overshadowed later contradictory facts, as when in 1861, for in- 
stance, living creatures were brought up by a telegraph cable 
from a depth of over 2,000 fathoms in the Mediterranean. Yet 
in spite of this, the poor success which attended the cruises of 
the “Porcupine” and “Shearwater” in the Mediterranean led 
Dr. Carpenter to assume that in that sea, below a. few hundred 
fathoms, life became practically extinct. It was reserved for the 
French exploring expedition of the “ Travailleur " and of the 
4 Talisman,"? in charge of Alphonse Milne-Edwards, to show 
that while the great depths of the Mediterranean are not so full 
of animal life as the corresponding depths of the Atlantic, they 
yet contain favorable localities in which many of the Atlantic 
deep-sea species may be found and were actually collected by 
the French expedition. "The great depths of the Mediterranean 
are mainly covered by a thick bed of gray mud little favorable 
to the development of animal life; and this fact, taken in con- 
nection with the comparatively high temperature of that sea at 
the bottom, would fuily account for the paucity of animal life. 
1 Umbellula was brought up off the described by Lindahl from specimens col- 
coast of Greenland by Adrians in the lected by the “Ingegerd ” and “Gladan.” 
middle of the last century from a depth 2 The cruise of the ‘ Talisman” to 
of 1,406 feet in 70° N. L., and the speci- the westward of the Atlantic coast of 
mens were deseribed by Ellis. In 1871 Africa, 1882, led to some most important 
the same species was found again and results. 
