CHAP. III.] THE CRUISES OF THE ' POKCUPLXE.' 8.5 



Lant Carpenter, B.Sc., as chemist and physicist ; and 

 during the first cruise they explored the west coast of 

 Ireland, the Porcupine Bank, and the channel between 

 Rockall and the coast of Scotland. It was originally 

 arranged that the second expedition, under the charge 

 of the writer with the assistance of Mr. Hunter, 

 M.A., P.C.S., assistant in the Chemical Laboratory in 

 Belfast, in the physical department, should take up 

 the ground to the north of Eockall, leading northwards 

 to the point where we had left off the year before; 

 but subsequently, for reasons which will be explained 

 hereafter, we altered our plan and took the second 

 cruise in the Bay of Biscay. Dr. Carpenter took the 

 direction of the last cruise, in which we carefully 

 worked over the ' Lightning channel,' and checked 

 our previous observations ; Mr. P. Herbert Carpenter, 

 our former companion in the 'Lightning,' doing the 

 analyses of water, and determining the amount and 

 composition of its contained air; while I went as 

 supernumerary and made myself generally useful. 



The special appliances and apparatus which were 

 prepared under Dr. Carpenter's superintendence, after 

 much consultation among experts in different depart- 

 ments, for carrying out the various investigations, will 

 be described, each in its place, when describing the 

 several methods of investigation and their general 

 results. 



Por the management of the dredging operations 

 two assistants were appointed on the recommendation 

 of Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys,— Mr. Laughrin, of Polperro, 

 an old coast-guard man and an associate of the Lin- 

 nsean Society, for dredging and sifting ; and Mr. B. 

 S. Dodd, for picking out, cleaning, and storing the 



