57 



NOTES ON DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS, 



(SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF 12th MAY.) 

 By Pev. W. B. Claeke, M.A., F.G-.S., Y.P. 



[i?<?«d? before the Royal Society, 1st December, 1875.] 



Altiiottgh I endeavoured, in the first part of the Anniversary 

 Address of the present year, to bring together a number of 

 instructive data respecting the condition of the bottom of the 

 Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as shown by the observations and 

 researches of the Officers and Scientific Staff* of H.M.S. " Chal- 

 lenger," that account was necessarily incomplete. It was merely 

 a detail of work in progress, requiring the addition of fresh 

 material. 



In the design of such continuation, I have thought it advisable 

 to lay before this Society some fresh statements and conclusions, 

 collected from various sources, not doubting that they may prove 

 interesting to such as gave willing audience to my preceding 

 remarks. 



(I.) By the kindness of my friend Captain P. J. O. Evans, E.N., 

 C.B., P.P.S., Hydrographer to the Admiralty, I have been put 

 in possession of two reports from the " Challenger" — the former 

 dated from Hongkong, by Captain Nares, on 19th November, 1874, 

 to which are appended " Extracts from the Remark Book of Staff- 

 Commander T. H. Tizard on the temperature of the seas partially 

 enclosed by the Indian Archipelago"; the latter entitled " Hydro- 

 graphic Proceedings," being a communication from Captain 

 Prank T. Thomson, successor to Captain Nares, in command of 

 the " Challenger," bearing date Yokohama, 11th April, 1875, also 

 supplemented by Commander Tizard. These Peports are illus- 

 trated by sections of the ocean between New Zealand and Piji ; 

 Paine Island in the Barrier Peef, Appi, and Kandavu, the 

 Banda, Celebes, Sulu, and China Seas, together with the Isother- 

 mal lines at different depths. 



By these Peports I am enabled to fill in the " gap" between 

 New Zealand and Cape York, mentioned in my " Address," and 

 to add something in relation to the coasts and ocean further 

 north. The last previous Peport of Captain Nares bears date 

 17th March, 1874 ; the present one, therefore, is to us a new 

 official document. 



