292 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



report upon them, with a drawing and description of a 

 new species, are included herewith. 



The general character of the plankton obtained bears 

 out to a considerable extent Dr. John Murray's remarks 

 upon the pelagic life of the Antarctic Ocean. 



In a paper recently read before the Royal Society upon 

 '-■ The Scientific Advantages of an Antarctic Expedition," 

 he says : — 



" In the surface waters of the Antarctic there is a great 

 abundance of diatoms and other marine algas. These 

 floating banks or meadows form primarily not only the 

 food of pelagic animals, but also the food of the abundant 

 deep-sea life which covers the floor of the ocean in these 

 south polar regions Pelagic animals, such as Copepods, 

 Amphipods, Molluscs, and other marine organisms, are 

 also very abundant, although species are fewer than in 

 tropical waters. Some of these animals seem to be 

 nearly, if not quite, identical with those found in high 

 northern latitudes, and they have not been met with in 

 the intervening tropical zones. The numerous species 

 of shelled Pteropods, Foraminifera, Coccoliths and Rhab- 

 doliths, which exist in the tropical surface waters, 

 gradually disappear as we approach the Antarctic circle, 

 where the shelled Pteropods are represented by a small 

 Limacina, and the Foraminifera by only two species of 

 Globigerina, which are apparently identical with those in 

 the Arctic Ocean. A peculiarity of the tow-net gatherings 

 made by the " Challenger" Expedition in high southern 

 latitudes, is the great rarity or absence of the pelagic 

 larvse of benthonic organisms, and in this respect they 

 agree with similar collections from the cold waters of the 

 Arctic seas. The absence of these larvae from polar 

 waters may be accounted for by the mode of development 

 of benthonic organisms. It must be remembered that 



