290 BULLETIN OF THE 



01' attached to the ti'ap of the trawl. Studer gives a long list of the 

 depths from which they came up attached to the souuding-lixie, but it is 

 by no means certain that these Siphouophores belonged in the depths 

 indicated by the wire. They may have become caught on the wire while 

 it was reeling in at only a short distance from the surface.* The fact that 

 Studer never succeeded in bringing up any of these species in the tow-net, 

 even when lowered to a considerable depth, is as little conclusive, since, 

 at any rate in the Caribbean Sea, their isolated parts and fragments are 

 not uncommon floating on the surface. It is probable that they usually 

 live at a certain depth below the surface, and some of them may, like 

 Cassiopea, prefer to dwell near the bottom ; but until we possess a net 

 so constructed as to give some sure indication of the intermediate depths 

 at which the animals living at various distances between the surface and 

 bottom have been gathered in, it seems hazardous to define the bathy- 

 metrical range of a large number of pelasgic animals, such as the Aca- 

 lephs, Siphouophores, Hetropods, Pteropods, numerous Foraminifera, 

 Radiolaria, and the like, the habits of which are scarcely known. 



In the case of Fishes, when dredging in deep water at a moderate 

 distance from the land, we ought not to take it for granted that they 

 invariably live at the depth to which the trawl may have been lowered. 

 The young of many of the deep-water Fishes are undoubtedly pelasgic, 

 often till a late period of growth, and thus many of the deep-water 

 Fishes have probably come to light, especially in the proximity of 

 oceanic islands or along coasts situated near deep water. We made 

 three casts oflF the coast of Cuba, between Nuevitas and Cape Maysi. 

 In lat. 21° 2', N., long. 74° 44', W., ofFCayo de Moa, in 1,554 fathoms, 

 we found a patch of green sand, made up of large Globigerinse, similar 

 to that mentioned by Mr. Pourtal^s in his " Deep-Sea Corals." 



We also obtained, in 994 fothoms off Nuevitas, large blocks of genuine 

 white chalk, composed mainly of Globigerinse and Rotulinse. Large 

 quantities of ooze and white clay, which proved to be only the white 

 chalk in different stages of compression, also came up in the trawl. If 

 the conditions now existing at that depth at all resemble those of the 

 time of the white chalk, I could readily understand how perfectly Sea- 

 Urchins or Mollusks would be preserved if once enclosed in this homo- 

 geneous substance, to be gradually compressed into solid white chalk. 



In one of the hauls taken between Cape Maysi and Jamaica (1,200 



* In one case, dredging in 1,000 fathoms, numerous fragments of a Rhizophysa came up 

 after drawing in 100 fathoms of wire ! On another occasion, the same species came up 

 after drawing iu 300 fathoms, while dredging in 500 fathoms. 



