180 Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys 07i the [June 15, 



made out by Professor Dickie to be au uudescribed Diatom, aud uamed by 

 him Sijnedra Jeffrey si. Au accouut of this remarkable orgaiiism will be ap- 

 pended to the Eeport. We afterwards found it coyeriug to a considerable 

 extent all that part of the K'orth- Atlantic Ocean. It contained within 

 its meshes numerous living Glohigerince in different stages of growth, 

 proving that Globigerina inhabits the surface of the sea. During one 

 of the gales a wave larger than usual broke over the bow and washed 

 on board a young cuttlefish of the same species (Leachia horealis, 

 Steenstrup) as that which I had taken with the tow- net in the first cruise 

 of the ' Porcupine ' off the western coast of Ireland. Occasionally two 

 tow-nets were put out at the same time, each at the end of a spar, 

 with a guide-line. One of these spars was lashed to the cat-head of 

 the bow anchor, and the other to the starboard paddle-box. The nets 

 were thus kept clear of the ship's refuse and of the wash of the paddle. 

 Attached to the stalk of a floating Laminaria was a cluster of the egg- 

 capsules of Buccinum Groenlandicum, with the spawn of a Nudibranch 

 (probably Doris rej^anda), Sj){rorhis horealis, and a sessile calcareous Poly- 

 zoon, besides countless numbers of a microscopic mite, which swarmed 

 everywhere and appeared to be busily engaged in eating the outer layer 

 of the seaweed as v^-ell as the spawn of the Nudibranch and the poly- 

 paries of the Polyzoon. This very curious parasitic mite could only be 

 detected by the aid of a microscope. The oceanic Pauna and Plora offer 

 a vast and inexhaustible field for scientific investigation. 



5. Having entered Davis Strait and approached the " BoresD finiti- 

 mum latus," we met with several icebergs and a quantity of loose pack- 

 ice, which must have been brought from East Grreenland, if not from 

 Spitzbergen, round Cape Parewell. We were obliged to give the pack- 

 ice a wide berth ; and, notwithstanding the greatest care, our paddles 

 did not escape some damage. But I will not diverge from my bio- 

 logical text, nor say any thing about glacial phenomena ; although I 

 nmst confess that the beautiful and impressive spectacles of this 

 nature which I witnessed in my voyage to the arctic regions both at 

 sea and on land cannot be effaced from my memory. We had several 

 showers of hail and snow ; and on the night of the 3rd July the tem- 

 perature of the air fell to 29^° Pahr. or 2|° below freezing-point. We 

 reached Grodhavn in Disco Island on the 4th of July, after a run of 

 37 days. 



6. At Grodhavn the rocks on the shore were covered with a stunted 

 variety of Littorina rudis, closely resembling a variety of the same 

 species which I found in brackish water on the banks of the river 

 Deben near Sutton. The periodical melting of the ice and snow in 

 Greenland would cause an admixture of fresh and salt water similar 

 to that of the river-water and the sea on the coast of Suffolk. The 

 arctic form has been considered a distinct species and named Groen- 

 landica by Menke, Moller, and Morch, JDavidi by Bolten, and castanea 



