peesident's addeess. 93 



^Porcupine,'' succeeded in obtaining a dredgeful of '' Globigerina 

 Ooze" from 2,435 fathoms,*' which, was found to contain living 

 animals belonging to most classes of the Invertebrata, the atten- 

 tion of JSTaturalists throughout the world was concentrated on 

 the subject. One nation after another inaugurated expeditions 

 of research. England, the United States, and Canada ; Germany 

 and Denmark ; Austria and Sweden ; Holland and France, have 

 in succession taken up the work of investigation. JN'or is the 

 interest engendered likely soon to cease. During this present 

 year I have reason to believe that France, which last summer 

 entered the lists, by the dredgings of ' he Travailletir ' in the Bay 

 of Biscay, in which by the special invitation of the French 

 Government I took part, will prosecute more extended researches 

 in the depths of the Mediterranean. Italy is preparing to follow 

 in her wake; and our own Government will probably place 

 another vessel at the disposal of my fiiend Sir Wyville Thomson, 

 so as to enable him to extend the soundings commenced by the 

 'Knight ErranV last year, and trace out with greater exactness 

 the course of the cold and warm water currents which are found 

 so close together in the trough between the Faroe and Shetland 

 Islands, and which are characterized by distinctive Faunae. 



I will now proceed to review, first, from a Geological, and, 

 secondly, from a Zoological standpoint, the results of these vari- 

 ous expeditions. It may, however, be well, as an introduction 

 to the consideration of the abyssal strata in course of formation, 

 to notice those deposits which are being formed in the shallow 

 seas around the shores of continents and islands. 



A. Shalloio Water Deposits. 



On every sea beach we witness the gradual disintegration of 

 the cliffs, and their comminution into the coarser or finer sand 

 and mud on which we tread, while every storm-swollen river or 

 streamlet, as it hurries towards the sea, bears in its turbid 

 waters its burden of earth and sand destined to be sorted, sifted, 

 and silted into such finer or coarser material on the sea bottom, 



* See Appendix A for an account of this dredging. 



