president's address. 99 



remains are accompanied by fine living arenaceous and cal- 

 careous forms, and in the lesser depths at which the Globigerina 

 Ooze is found, such non-pelagic forms greatly increase in num- 

 bers. On accurate examination of Globigerina Ooze obtained by 

 the 'Porcupine' in 1869, Stat. 87, Lat. 59° 37' IST., Long. 9° 11' 

 W., in 767 fathoms, I found that while sixty-five species of 

 Foraminifera were present, seven only of these were known to 

 live at the surface. 



It is easy to picture to the mind these vast beds of Globigerina 

 Ooze, which are now accumulating upon what may be called the 

 uplands or plateaus of the bed of the ocean, converted hereafter 

 into strata of chalk or limestone ; indeed, Mr. Agassiz has found 

 the ooze in the West Indies almost in the condition of chalk. 

 He writes: — "We also obtained, in 994 fathoms, oil ISTuevitas, 

 large blocks of genuine white chalk, composed mainly of Globi- 

 gerina and Rotulinae, large quantities of ooze and white clay, 

 which proved to be only the white chalk in different stages of 

 compression also came up in the trawl. If the conditions now 

 existing at that depth at all resemble those of the time of the 

 white chalk, I could readily understand how perfectly Sea Urchins 

 or MoUusks would be preserved, if once enclosed in this homo- 

 geneous substance, to be gradually compressed into solid white 

 chalk. '"^^ 



(5) BilomUna Ooze. — As we approach the Arctic Circle, the 

 Globigerinse, which have been becoming more dwarfed, sub- 

 globular, and thick shelled, so as to have the distinguishing- 

 name given to them by Mr. Brady Glo. Lutertrei, var lorealis, 

 gradually lessen in number, and thus a different dej)osit has been 

 found by the ISTorwegian IS'orth Atlantic Expedition to occupy 

 the ocean between ]S"orway and Spitzbergen on the one side, and 

 Iceland and Greenland on the other. The bottom temperature 

 is here at fi'eezing point, or but little above it, and a deposit is 

 taking place in which the Foraminifer BilocuUna ringens, though 

 far less abundant, in some measure takes the place occupied by 

 Globigerina over the rest of the Atlantic. Mr. H. B. Brady has 



* A. Agassiz. in Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. V., p. 290. 



