CHAP. VI.] DEEP-SEA DREDGING. 265 



plienomena of the distribution of temperature are 

 most acceptable. 



At the Birmingham Meeting of the British Asso- 

 ciation in 1839 an important committee was ap- 

 pointed " for researches with the dredge, with a 

 view to the investigation of the marine zoology of 

 Great Britain, the illustration of the geographical 

 distribution of marine animals, and the more 

 accurate determination of the fossils of the plio- 

 cene period : under the superintendence of Mr. 

 Gray, Mr. Torbes, Mr. Goodsir, Mr. Patterson, Mr. 

 Thompson of Belfast, Mr. Ball of Dublin, Dr. George 

 Johnston, Mr. Smith of Jordan Hill, and Mr. A. 

 Strickland." The appointment of this committee 

 may he regarded as the initiation of the systematic 

 employment of this method of research. Edward 

 Torbes was the ruling spirit, and under the genial 

 influence of his contagious enthusiasm great pro- 

 gress was made during the next decade in the know- 

 ledge of the fauna of the British seas, and many 

 wonderfully pleasant days were spent by the original 

 committee and by many others who, from year to 

 year, were ' added to their number.' Every annual 

 report of the British Association contained commu- 

 nications from the English, the Scottish, or the Irish 

 branches of the committee, and in 1850 Edward 

 Eorbes submitted its first general report on British 

 marine zoology. This report, as might have been 

 anticipated from the eminent qualifications of the 

 reporter, was of the highest value ; and taken along 

 with his remarkable memoirs previously published, 

 " on the distribution of the Mollusca and Eadiata 

 of the iEgean Sea," and "on the geological relations 



