353 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



position along the 'coasts of the New World : namely, a northern one 

 extends from lat. 60° N. to 10° N., expanding greatly in the tropics ; and 

 a southern one, commencing a few degrees to the south-eastward of the 

 other, extends far into the Antarctic basin, of which it may be regarded 

 as a northern prolongation. Between the eastern and two western basins 

 a comparatively narrow belt of suboceanic highlands extends from the 

 Arctic to the Antarctic circle along a sinuous line which, roughly speaking, 

 occupies a mid-channel course. 



Of the oceanic islands, the Azores, St. Paul's rocks. Ascension, and 

 Tristan dAcunha are emerged peaks of these highlands. The Bermuda 

 Islands rise out of immense depths in the N.W. basin ; Eernando de 

 Noronha and Trinidad Island (in 20° S. lat.) rise out of the S,W. basin ; 

 while not more than one island (St. Helena) is to be found throughout the 

 whole length of the Eastern basin. 



Not only is this discovery of great importance in relation to the sub- 

 oceanic distribution of life, but also in reference to theories of the distri- 

 bution of land-animals and plants. In the present state of our know- 

 ledge, it disposes of all speculations as to the former existence of tracts 

 of now submerged land, which, extending from the great continents to 

 the islands in question, might have aided the migration thither of animals 

 and plants ; and it obliges us to conclude that they were peopled with 

 living things by the direct or indirect agency of the elements. 



Did time allow, I would have directed your attention to the discussion on 

 Oceanic Circulation contained in these Eeports — a subject that has pro- 

 duced, within a very few years, a library of scientific literature, in which 

 the names of Carpenter, Croll, and Wyville Thomson will ever hold a 

 high place, — as also to the memoirs contributed to our ' Transactions ' 

 and ' Proceedings ' by Thomson, Willemoes-Suhm, Moseley, Buchanan, 

 and Murray. 



The as yet uninvestigated materials collected by the Expedition include 

 soundings, dredgings, and trawlings at the surface, bottom, and inter- 

 mediate depths, from 354 stations in the Atlantic, Pacific, Southern, 

 Antarctic, and Pacific Oceans, and in the China Sea and Malay archipe- 

 lago, all which have to be studied in connexion with simultaneous obser- 

 vations for the temperature, specific gravity, chemical composition, and 

 movements of the sea-water at these stations, and with others relating 

 to the mineral matter covering the floor of the ocean. 



Sir C. Wyville Thomson informs me that, as yet, no close estimate can 

 be formed of the number of specimens fit for mounting for museum- 

 purposes which were collected in the deep sea; but he thinks that 

 100,000 would be well within the mark ; and this is of course exclusive 

 of microscopic organisms. Being collected over a vast area presentiug 

 comparatively very slight variations in physical conditions, the general 

 character of the fauna which they represent is, as might be expected, on 

 the w^hole uniform. At the first glance it seems to consist of a multitude 



