SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 357 



the same constituents, except that the smell in this case is 

 hardly perceptible, while the proportion of larger grains of 

 quartz is very much higher than in the previously described 

 samples. This, of course, might be expected, as the further 

 to the South, the stronger will be the tides coming from the 

 South, and therefore the larger particles will be more numerous, 

 while a decrease will be observed in the very fine suspended 

 matter. In this sample, however, there is no perceptible 

 decrease in the amount of fine organic matter, and consequently 

 it is safe to say that this point is well within the belt of dead 

 water previously mentioned. 



XIY. [15.] 16/4/13. Selker Ship. 



In the deposit obtained at the Selker Ship a transition 

 is seen to be taking place from the pure mud of the Duddon 

 area back to the typical Irish Sea deposit of quartz sand and 

 comminuted shells. 



Although a very large proportion of fine mud and organic 

 matter is still found in this sample, the larger type of quartz 

 grains are also common, and resemble those found in the 

 sandy areas of the " Hole," between Bahama Ship and the 

 -Hole." 



I shook up some of this sample with water in a large 

 glass tube for a minute, and then allowed it to settle. The 

 quartz sand separated out immediately and settled on the 

 bottom, but after two hours the water was still murky with 

 very fine suspended matter, although, certainly, the greater 

 part of the mud had, by that time, been precipitated on the 

 top of the quartz sand. 



A considerable number of pieces of shells were found in 

 this sample, the majority of which seem to belong to the genua 

 Tellina, but most of them were in such a fine state of division 

 as to be unrecognisable. Spines of echinoids were fairly com- 

 mon as well as annelid setae. Two fairly large specimens of 



