PRELIMINARY REPORT. 77 



At Station 185, in 4173 fathoms, lat. 21^ 18' S., long. 173' 31' W. Light- 

 brown volcanic mud and Radiokrian ooze. A small " Blake " trawl was 

 lowered, protected by canvas flaps ; it came up in excellent condition. A 

 half-gallon jar was filled with fragments of a large siliceous sponge allied 

 to Aulochene or Crateromorpha which the " Challenger" obtained in shal- 

 lower water, in about 500 fathoms, in the western Pacific. 



Tlie bottom deposits collected hy the " Albatross.'" 

 A comparison of the deposits collected by the "Albatross" on the line 

 from San Francisco to Tahiti with the "Challenger" line of soundings 

 from Station 253 north of the Hawaiian Islands to Tahiti shows a great 

 similarity in their characteristic structure. At Station 2 (lat. 28° 23' N., 

 long. 126° 51' W.), in only 23G8 fathoms, the " Albatross" struck the char- 

 acteristic Pacific red clay which was met with as far as Station 14 (lat. 6° 

 41' N., long. 137° W.), where in 2776 fathoms Globigerin;\3 and Forami- 

 nifera predominated and no Radiolarians occurred, wdiile at next station, 

 in 2583 fathoms, Radiolarians were again obtained, as well as at Station 

 18 (lat. 6° 25' S., long. 138° 59' W.), in 2468 fathoms, and at Station 23 

 (lat. 8° 33' S., long. 139° 36' W.), in 1802 fathoms, near the Marquesas, 

 together with volcanic particles. At the intermediate stations, varying in 

 depth from 1939 to 2463 fathoms, Globigerina ooze was obtained. It may 

 be stated that Stations 14 to 23 are in a general way in the tract of the 

 equatorial current and counter current, characterizeil by the larger num- 

 ber of species constituting its surface fauna than in the stations to the 

 north. 



Note. — Sir John Murray in his Report on the bottom deposits has frequently called 

 attention to the great bulk of pelagic Foraminifera which are found in the bottom deposits. 

 "While it is true that many of the Globigerina of which the tests are collected must live 

 at or very near the bottom * yet the pelagic species, which are far less numerous, often 

 compose fully 80 per cent of the carbonate of lime occurring in the deposit. According 

 to Brady he records as collected by the "Challenger" only 19 species of pelagic Foramini- 

 fera: seven of Globigerince, six species of Pulvinulina, and the following genera, Orbulina, 

 Hastigerina, Sphseroidina, Candeina, Cynibalopora and Chilostoraella, represented each 

 by one species. But they occur on the surface in such swarms that their dead tests, when 

 they reach the bottom, completely overwhelm those of the bottom living species. 



1 W. B. Carpenter, in Proc. R. S., Vol. XXIII., p. 235. 



