176 



Dr. Carpenter's Preliminary Report [Dec. 17, 



proved to be long siliceous Sponge-spicules ; and our subsequent examina- 

 tion of these has shown them to be the root-fibres of Sponges, the bodies 

 of which have a siliceous framework of very different structure. As it thus 

 appears that these Siliceous Sponges, when growing on the surface of the 

 mud, send root-fibres (so to speak) far and wide into its substance, the idea 

 previously suggested by Prof. Loven *, that the elongated flint-rope of 

 Hyalonema Sieboldii is in reality the mud-imbedded stem, supporting the 

 Sponge with which it is connected, instead of being implanted in the 

 Sponge and supported by it (which is the commonly received opinion), 

 seems the more likely. This idea is thought probable by Prof. Wyville 

 Thomson, who has already paid great attention to the whole group t, and 

 by whom all the new forms we have obtained will hereafter be fully described. 

 — Entangled among the fibres of the Sponge were found several small Opliio- 

 comce, Polyzoa, Crustacea, and tubicolar Annelida, the tubes of the last 

 being for the most part composed of Globiyerince cemented together, fre- 

 quently in a most regular and beautiful manner. The only living testa- 

 ceous Mollusk that presented itself was a small specimen of Terebratula 

 cranium. Imbedded in the mud were found a specimen of Kophobelemnon 

 Mulleri (a type allied to Pennatula) in full life, and two headless stems 

 of Rhizocrinus, the perfectly fresh aspect of which leads me to believe 

 that they must have grown on the spot, and have been mutilated in the 

 sifting of the mud in which they were imbedded. This mud contained a 

 considerable proportion (about 60 per cent.) of Globiyerince, together 

 with some remarkably large Biloculince and other Milioline forms — 

 The general character of this Fauna obviously bore a close relation to 

 that of our previous dredging in a similar bottom ; and though we can- 

 not positively affirm the Temperature of that bottom to be the same, 

 yet we have not merely the evidence of a previous Sounding in a locality 

 not far removed from it, but also that of a Sounding subsequently taken in 

 another locality further to the south, but nearly in the same longitude 

 (§ 20), to this effect. 



20. Being anxious now to proceed as quickly as possible to the region 

 in which we knew that we should find much deeper water, we steered 

 nearly due south, and on the morning of Sept. 17 reached lat. 59° 49' 

 and long. 12° 36'. Here a Sounding gave us a depth of 620 fathoms 

 [1 134 metres], with a bottom of white mud very similar to that of our last 

 dredging. The minimum temperature, as shown by the mean of two ther- 



* See his description of Hyalonema boreale in ' CEfversigt af X. Yetenskaps Aka- 

 demiens Forhandlingar,' 1868, p. 105; translated in 'Annals of [Natural History,' 

 Fourth Series (1868), vol. ii. p. 81. — Dr. J. E. Gray, whilst still maintaining that the 

 "flint-rope" is a Zoophytic product, and that the Sponge with which it is connected is 

 parasitic, has also come to the conclusion that the brush-like termination serves as the 

 root implanted in mud, above which the Sponge is borne. (See Ann. of !Xat. Hist., 

 Fourth Series, vol. ii. p. 272.) 



t See his Paper on the Yitreous Sponges, in ' Annals of Natural History,' Fourth 

 Series, vol. i. (1868), p. 114. 



