August 10, 1S83.] 



SCIENCE. 



155 



tare, and fineness of grain ; but llicy are all 

 composed of distinct particles of siliceous sand, 

 often ver\- fine, cemented by more or less aliun- 

 dant lime and magnesia carbonates. Some- 

 times small quartz pebbles occur in them. The 

 fine-grained varieties of the rock are often ex- 

 ceedingly compact, hard, and toiigli, usually 

 gr.ayish or greenish in color. The^- are often 

 bored by annelids, sponges, etc., and are 

 usually weathered brown, due to the presence 

 of iron (proliably in part as carbon.ate, some- 

 times as p_vrite). The sand consists ni.ainly of 

 rounded grains of quartz, with some felspar, 

 7nica, garnet, and magnetite. ' It is like the 

 loose sand dredged from the bottom in tiie 

 same region. The calcareous cementing ma- 

 terial seems to have been derived mainly from 

 the sliells of Foraininifera, abundantly dis- 

 seminated through the sand just as we find the 

 recent Foraminifera in the same region. In 

 some cases, distinct casts of Foraminifera are 

 visible in the rock. In some pieces of the rock, 

 distinct fossil shells were found, apparentl3' of 

 recent species (Astarte, etc.). The larger 

 masses appear to have been originally con- 

 cretions in a softer deposit, which has been 

 more or less worn away, leaving the hard 

 nodules so exposed th.nt the trawl could pick 

 them up. The age of these rocks m.iy be as 

 great as the pleistocene, or even the pliocene, 

 so far as the evidence goes. No rocks of this 

 kind are found on the dry land of this coast. 

 It is probable, however, that they belong to a 

 part of the same formation as the masses of 

 fossiliferous sandy limestone and calcareous 

 sandstone, often brought up by the Gloucester 

 fishermen from deep water on all the fishing- 

 banks, from George's to the Grand Bank. 



The chemical coniposition of these limestone 

 nodules is of much interest geologically. 

 Analyses made b}- Prof. O. D. Allen prove 

 that they contain a consideralilc amount of 

 magnesia. They are. therefore, to be regarded 

 as magnesian limestones, or dolomites, of 

 recent sulunarine origin. They also contain a 

 notable quantity of calcium |)hos|)hate. The 

 presence of the latter is not surprising when 

 we consider the immense number of carnivo- 

 rous fishes, cc|)halopods, etc., which inhabit 

 these waters, and feed largely uiion the smaller 

 fishes, whose comminuted bones must, in part 

 at least, be discharged in their excrements. 

 In fact, it is probable that the greater part of 

 all the mud and sand that cover these bottoms 

 has passed more than once througii the intes- 

 tinal canals of living animals. Tiie Echini, 

 holothurians, and many of the star-fishes and 

 worms, continually- swallow large quantities of 



mud and sand for the sake of the minute organ- 

 isms contained in it, and from which they 

 derive their sustenance. 



The following partial anah-sis by Prof. O. D. 

 Allen gives the percentage of the most impor- 

 tant constituents. The sample analyzed was a 

 hard, compact, and ver^" fine-grained magne- 

 sian limestone. Its color was yellowish green, 

 with a darker green surface, weathered nisly 

 brown in some places. It contained some 

 minute specks of iron pyrite. Its specific 

 gravit\- was 2.7;J. 



Composition of a deep-water limestone. 



Per cpnt. 



Lime 24.11.5 



Magnesia 14.41 



Iriin (e3tiniate<l as protoxiile) 2.00 



I'liDsplioric aei'l (not weighed). 



Insoluble residue (saiidj ll>.97 



WA TER-nOTTLES A XD THEUMOMETERS 

 FOR DEEI'-SEA RESEARCH AT THE 

 INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHI- 

 BITION. 



It would naturally l)e expected that at an 

 exhibition of this kind in England, where so 

 much has been done in the past for deep-sea 

 investigations, there would be found a good 

 collection of the apparatus used in deei)-sea 

 work. Great Britain has, in fact, shown al- 

 most nothing of the kind ; indeed, one ma3' 

 s.iy, nothing whatever that especially relates 

 to deep-sea investigation. After spending the 

 not inconsiderable sum of money required to 

 fit out the Challenger, the British government 

 seems to have lost all interest in deep-sea ex- 

 ploration ; and other nations are carrying on 

 tiie work wilii greatly improved apparatus, 

 wliile Great Britain rests content with the lau- 

 rels already won. 



The Unitetl .States exhibit is the most com- 

 ))lete of all, as regai-ds ai)paratus of this kind. 

 Denmark and Sweden have some apparatus 

 for collecting specimens of water and observa- 

 tions of temperature, which, with the later 

 f(»rms used by the U.S. fish-commission and by 

 the coast-survey, will form the main subject of 

 this article. 



The .Swedish apparatus was devised b3- Prof. 

 F. L. Ekma:i, principally for the use of the 

 .Swedish expedition of l'S77, which carried out 

 very thorough and systematic hydrographic 

 investigations in the waters extending from 

 till- North Sea, through the Baltic, to the ex- 

 tivme end of the (iulf of Bothnia. Although 

 the apparatus worked with entire satisfaction, 

 it would scarcely be used at the present time, 

 for it is uunece^saril}- heavy and large. 



