338 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 506. 



than to add. A problem to determine 

 must be what shall be considered as fishes 

 really belonging to the fauna. Certainly 

 inhabitants of the deep seas, which never 

 approach the territorial limits of a state, 

 can not properly be considered as mem- 

 bers of the fauna. Such types as the 

 chimasrids, simenchelyids, nemichthyids, 

 saccopharyngids, alepocephalids and ma- 

 cruids are characteristic constituents of the 

 deep-sea or bassalian realm. The involun- 

 tary estrays from tropical seas, whose lives 

 are terminated with the increasing cold of 

 ' the fall and winter months, also cannot 

 claim to be reckoned as constituents of 

 the fauna. They are representative of a 

 very distinct realm— the Tropiealian. They 

 do, however, furnish very useful hints for 

 the determination of zoogeographical prob- 

 lems. We have the evidence that in times 

 past a few estrays from tropical families 

 have established homes far from those of 

 their kindred. All such problems and con- 

 siderations, however, must now be left for 

 the future and for other hands. 



Theo. Gill. 

 Smithsonian Institution. 



THE COLD-CURBENT SYSTEM OF THE 



PACIFIC, AND SOURCE OF THE 



PACIFIC COAST CURRENT. 



I PROPOSE to offer reasons for believing 

 that an immense system of currents of ice- 

 cold water occupies a large part of the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, corresponding in magnitude to 

 the vast warm-current system of the equa- 

 torial Pacific, which culminates in the great 

 Gulf Stream of Japan, or the Kuro Siwo. 



But preliminary to this I would note 

 some points relative to that remarkable 

 stream of cold water, which flows in a 

 vast volume southerly, skirting southeast 

 Alaska, Vancouver's Island, the Pacific 

 states of Washington, Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia, and finally passes out westward to 

 Hawaii, beyond which group it becomes 



merged into the great equatorial current 

 running westward. 



This stream is of very low temperature, 

 of immense volume and of great velocity. 

 It is unique in its powerful effects upon 

 the climates of the coasts along which it 

 flows. To the states of Washington and 

 Oregon throughout the summer it imparts 

 a constantly cool and moist climate extend- 

 ing over one hundred miles into the inte- 

 rior. It also greatly mitigates the cold of 

 winter. Both these conditions are in strong 

 contrast to the arid summer and biting 

 winter climates which prevail in the inte- 

 rior of those states east of the Cascade 

 Range. 



To the entire coast of California from 

 Klamath to Los Angeles this current lends 

 chill fogs throughout the summer after- 

 noons, whose moisture clothes with verdure 

 the coast hills for many miles in breadth, 

 while the interior of the state is dry and 

 parched. It makes warm clothing needful 

 in San Francisco every day in the year. 

 It also mitigates the scorching heats of the 

 interior valleys of California, giving cool 

 nights to render them habitable. 



Finally turning westward like the trade 

 winds under the impulse of the globe's ro- 

 tation, this mighty current broadens out 

 into the open ocean, gradually gaining 

 warmth. After traversing 2,200 miles it 

 reaches the Hawaiian Islands, still at the 

 low temperature of 70° in late summer, 

 and of below 60° in late winter. This im- 

 parts to that favored group a uniformly 

 subtropical climate such as is unknown to 

 any other land in the same latitude. Borne 

 on this powerful current there may often be 

 seen passing the islands or landing on their 

 shores, immense trees as well as saw-logs 

 which have been swept to sea by freshets 

 in the Columbia River. 



Wiat is the source of this mighty cur- 

 rent? This is a problem not hitherto 

 solved. It has been the custom to call it a. 



