28 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [chap. i. 



Pleeming Jenkin's private journal, Avhicli he has 

 kindly placed in my hands for reference, that an 

 example of Caryophyllia, a true coral (Fig. 4), was 

 found naturally attached to the cable at the point 

 where it gave way; that is to say, at the bottom in 

 1,200 fathoms water. 



Some portions of this cable subsequently came into 

 the custody of M. Mangon, Professor at the Ecole 

 des Ponts et Chaussees in Paris, and were examined 

 by M. Alphonse Milne-Edwards, who read a paper 

 upon the organisms attached to them, at the Academy 

 of Sciences, on the 15th of July, 1861.^ After some 

 introductory remarks which show that he is thoroughly 

 aware of the value of this observation as a final 

 solution of the vexed question of the existence of 

 animal life at depths in the sea greatly beyond the 

 supposed ' zero ' of Edward Porbes, M. Milne- 

 Edwards gives a list of the animals which he found on 

 the cable from the depth of 1,100 fathoms. The list 

 includes Murex lamellosus, CmsToroKi and Jan, and 

 Craspedotus limbatus, Philippi, two univalve shells 

 allied to the whelk ; Ostrea cochlear, PoLi, a small 

 oyster common below 40 fathoms throughout the 

 Mediterranean; JPecten testae, Bivona, a rare little 

 clam ; Caryophyllia borealis, Pleming, or a nearly 

 allied species, one of the true corals ; and an unde- 

 scribed coral referred to a new genus and species 

 under the name of Thalassiotrochus telegraphicus, 

 A. Milne-Edwards. 



' Observations sur TExistenoe de divers Mollusques et Zoophytes a 

 de trfes graades profondeurs dans la Mer Mediterranee : Annales des 

 Sciences 1!^ aturelles ; quatrifjme serie — Zoologie. Tome xv. p. 149. 

 Paris, 1861. 



