INTUODUC'l'ION — WAl'I'K. 19 



Tlie following- lilies by W. II. Dall* licar on this sul))('<;fc : — 

 " Formerly wluMi (1 ret Igiiiff .... oiit- liiiiKlrcd fathoms was 

 considered extremely deej), and spc^cimeiis tVoin (!ven half that 

 depth were considered as having come from deep water. This 

 was proper enough when the collections were com))ared with those 

 from the shore between tides. . . . IJut. wii(>n naturalists 

 began to investigate at iiiiich grcatei- depths, tlie old t(;rms lost 

 their meaning." 



It was oi'iginally intended to work tlie whole of the coast line 

 of the Colony, but in consecpience of the time available being 

 reduced and the desire to moi'e thor-oughly explore the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the metropolis, this was not possible. 



As will be seen by i*eference to the accompanying chart, the 

 greatest number of hauls was made off Botany Bay and Port 

 Hacking. Many trials wei-e conducted off Broken Bay, at the 

 mouth of the River Hawkesbury, while the well-known fishing 

 grounds, the Newcastle and Shoalhaven Bights, also received 

 considerable attention ; more or less isolated attempts extended 

 the area traversed fi'om Jervis Bay to the Manning River. 



The actual operations extended from February 19th to March 

 25th, and during this period the trawl was lowered sixty-one times. 

 On two occasions, when the net was fouled, it was raised and at 

 once dropped over the same spot, so that the number of stations 

 is reckoned at fifty-nine. 



The first thirty-three, together with the last haul, were made 

 north of Port Jackson and extended to the Manning Ri^^er, the 

 depths tested being from 10 to 90 fathoms. Not usually working 

 more than about eight miles from the shore, one essay was made 

 at nineteen, and another twenty-six miles distant. 



The remaining hauls as represented by Stations 34 to 58 took 

 place between Port Jackson, southward to Jervis Bay, at depths 

 varying between 10 and 80 fathoms. 



A tabulated list of stations will be found on the following pages, 

 and a chart at the end of the volume. Detailed accounts of each 

 day's operations cannot be supplied until all the collections have 

 been examined, when such may be fittingly published as a gene- 

 ral summary to the work. 



Dall-Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., xii., 18S5-6, p. 178. 



