29-4 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 lai-ge 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 Pourtales 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 j\'as specially disappointed at the absence of types 

 not already collected by the gi'eat 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 

 debris 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 



