IN'TRODUfTION — WAITK. 17 



T(j all iiiltHvsled in this ,sul)j('ct, I would rccDiimiC'iid a pei'usal 

 of the delightful and readabU^ work from which the foregoing are 

 extracts.* 



TEMPERATURES. 



As part of the equipment I had thermometers for registering 

 the temperature of the air, the surface of the water, and a deep- 

 sea instrument for recording the bottom temperature. Obser- 

 vations were made whenever I could find time, but these I regret 

 to say are of little or no value. After our final return to port it 

 was discovered that the deep-sea instrument was damaged, Viut at 

 what stage such occurred it is not possible to say. 



THE SOUNDINGS. 



In shallow water these were made with the ordinary hand-line, 

 but the deeper ones were taken by means of a self-registering 

 instrument. In the Preliminary Report certain differences appear 

 in the depths as recorded by Mr. Farnell and myself. I should not 

 consider it necessary to mention this hei'e had not such discrepanc}^ 

 been noticed in print. Mr. J. D. Ogilby misquotes my figures! 

 in giving the range of Ccdlanthias, and remarks that such is doubt- 

 less a printer's error, in support of which he refers to Mr. Farnell's 

 portion of the report. A reference to my table giving the 

 particulars of stations, shows that the figures are consistent. 

 This apparent discrepancy may be thus explained. The lead was 

 heaved twice, thrice, or even four times, when the net was cast, 

 and again when it was hauled, so that sometimes three or more 

 readings were obtained, varying by a fathom or two. As Mr. 

 Farnell's observations and my own were made quite independently, 

 it sometimes happened that we did not record the same figures, as 

 in the instance cited. In all cases I adopted the exti'eme 

 readings. 



While trawling the twelfth station on Feb. 22nd, and passing 

 southward off Cape Three Points, one of the seamen drew my 

 attention to what he described as a mass of seaweed floating just 

 beneath the surface .about thirty yards to seaward. On viewing the 

 object with a glass, it was evidently not seaweed, and I believed 

 it to be a collection of floating spawn. We were unfortunately 

 towing the trawl at the time, and I had no means of obtaining- 

 any of the material. The sailor told me that he had previously 

 seen such masses on the coast, and ha\dng once dipped up some in 

 a bucket found it to be "a sort of jelly seaweed." 



* Agassiz — Three Cruises of the "Blake." Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., xiv.,. 

 18S8. 

 t Ogilby— Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xxiv., 1899, p. 172. 



