Remews — Wyville Thomson's "Depths of the Sea." 215 



Geology, Mineralogy, and Palseontology of Devonshire, comprising 

 one hundred and fifteen titles. 



We have referred only to the geological papers. Many others 

 there are on Natural History, Meteorology, Archseology, etc., and 

 also a very elaborate report by Mr. Pengelly on the Signs of the 

 Hotels, Taverns, Inns, Wine and Spirit Vaults and Beershops in 

 Devonshire. H. B. W. 



las'viE'WS. 



I. — The Depths of the Sea. An Account of the General Eesults 

 of the Dredging Cruises of H.M. S.S. " Porcupine " and " Light- 

 ning," during the Summers of 1868, 1869, and 1870, under the 

 scientific direction of Dr. Carpenter, F.E.S., J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 r.K.S., and Dr. Wyville Thomson, F.E.S. By C. Wyville 

 Thomson, LL.D., F.E.SS. L. & E., Eegius Professor of Natural 

 History in the University of Edinburgh. With numerous Illus- 

 trations and Maps. Eoyal 8vo. pp. 528. (London, 1873 : 

 Macmillan & Co.) 



EVEE since those early days of modem Natural History when the 

 youthful and ardent Professor Edward Forbes first commenced 

 the systematic study of the marine zoology of our islands, British 

 Naturalists have been among the foremost to carry on the task of 

 working out the distribution of life in the sea, not only around our 

 own shores, but along many foreign coasts. The names of Darwin, 

 MacAndrew, Barlee, Carpenter, Gwyn Jeffreys, William Thompson, 

 Eobert Ball, Captain Spratt, Woodward, Barrett, Godwin- Austen, 

 and that of the author of the present volume, besides those of many 

 other eminent Naturalists, may be cited, who have pursued this same 

 line of research. 



One of the general conclusions arrived at by Prof. Forbes, Sars, 

 Audouin, and Milne-Edwards was that the sea-bed is divided into 

 four principal regions, namely : — 1. The Littoral zone or tract 

 between tide-marks. 2. The Laminarian zone, from low water to 

 15 fathoms. 3. The Coralline zone, from 15 to 50 fathoms. 4. The 

 deep-sea Coral-zone, from 50 to 100 fathoms or more. 



The greatest depth attained by MacAndrew in dredging off the 

 coast of Norway, appears to have been about 200 fathoms, and by 

 Forbes in the JSgean, about 230 fathoms for living shells, and 250 

 fathoms for dead shells. 



But, owing partly to the great difficulties attending deep-sea 

 dredging, and partly to a settled conviction that beyond a depth of 

 300 fathoms animal life was an impossibility on account of the enor- 

 mous pressure of such a column of water, the absence of light, food, 

 etc., it became a generally accepted dogma that in the deeper abysses 

 of the ocean, " life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few sparks 

 to mark its lingering presence." Yet even at this time evidence 

 actually existed of life in the sea at a far greater depth than 300 

 fathoms. General Sir Edward Sabine, who was a member of Sir 



