NOTES ON DEEP SEA SOUNDINGS. G9 



He says — " I have now to tell a different tale, for we have seen 

 them very many times, and their condition, and the entire 

 appearance and behaviour of the sarcode are, in a high degree, 

 characteristic and peculiar." He then states that when at once 

 transferred from the tow-net to a tolerably high-power micro- 

 scope, in fresh, still sea water, " the sarcodic contents of the 

 chambers made be seen to exude gradually through the pores of 

 the shell and spread out until they form a gelatinous fringe or 

 border round the shell, filling up the spaces among the roots of 

 the spines, and rising up a little way along their length." 



" This external coating of sarcode is rendered visible by 

 the oil globules, which are oval and of considerable size, and 

 filled with intensely coloured secondary globules ; they are 

 drawn along by the sarcode, and may be observed with a little 

 care following its spreading or contracting movements. At the 

 same time, an infinitely delicate sheath of sarcode containing 

 minute transparent granules, but no oil globules, rises on each 

 side of the spines to its extremity, and may be seen creeping up 

 one side and down the other of the spine, with the peculiar 

 flowing movement with which we are familiar in the pseudopodia 

 of Grromia and of the Radiolarians." 



" If the cell in which the Grlobigerina is floating receive a 

 sudden shock, or if a drop of some irritating liquid be added to 

 the water, the whole mass of protoplasm retreats into the shell 

 with great rapidity, drawing the oil globules along with it, and 

 the outline of the surface of the shell and of the hair-like spines 

 is left as sharp as before the exodus of the sarcode." 



Dr. Thomson then states that in the Atlantic, the siliceous 

 bodies, such as spicules of sponges and of Radiolarians or the 

 pustules of Diatoms found in the Grlobigerina ooze appeared to 

 diminish in the transition to the red clay. His recent observa- 

 tions have served to correct that opinion, and singularly enough 

 the fresh data were obtained from the greatest depth reached in 

 the Pacific, that of 4,575 fathoms, on the 23rd March (already 

 referred to), between the Caroline and Ladrone groups, when 

 one of the thermometers resisted the pressure, as Dr. Carpenter 

 remarks, " of six tons to the square inch." Professor Wyville 

 Thomson says the bottom was rather different from the ordinary 

 red clay, being more gritty — " the lower part of the Sounding- 

 tube seemed to have been compacted into a somewhat coherent 

 cake, as if already a stage towards hardening into stone." It 

 appears also that, at such a depth, the deposit assumes "the 

 character of an almost purely organic formation, the shells in this 

 case being siliceous," whilst at about 3,000 fathoms the calcareous 

 element was prominent. Another fact is inferred — that " Eadio- 

 larians exist at all depths in the water of the ocean, while 

 Poraminifera are confined to a comparatively narrow belt." 



