1870.] 



Deep-sea Researches. 



155 



was Rissoa Jeffreysi ; and we also got an undescribed Polyzoon (Idmonea 

 Hispanica, Busk), which was afterwards found in the Mediterranean. — 

 16th. Dredged twice in Vigo Bay, at a depth of about 20 fathoms. This 

 may be almost called ''classical" ground; for it was the scene of Mr. 

 M 'Andrew's dredging-operations in the spring and autumn of 1849. We 

 obtained a few species of Mollusca new to this locality ; and two of these 

 (Tellina compressa and Nassa semistriata) are interesting, as having been 

 described and figured by Brocchi from the Subapennine Tertiaries. The 

 latter species is one of our Crag fossils, under Mr. J. Sowerby's name of 

 Buccinum labiosum. Mr. Busk mentions Lepralia unicornis, a Polyzoon 

 previously known as from the Coralline Crag and Italian Pliocene, as well 

 as Mediterranean. Vigo was our first anchorage after leaving England ; and 

 on Sunday we attended Divine Service, and dined with the late Capt. Bur- 

 goyne, on board his ill-fated but noble vessel the ' Captain/ which also 

 had just arrived, after encountering some rough weather on her way out. 



12. We left Vigo Bay at daybreak on Monday the 18th. It blew strong 

 from the north-east ; and after going about forty miles westward, and try- 

 ing in vain to sound, we drifted along till the evening, and then steamed 

 slowly in the direction of Lisbon, which was distant about 200 miles. The 

 following day (19th) we sounded and dredged at depths of 100 and 220 

 fathoms (Station 13) from thirty to forty miles west of Cape Mondego, on 

 the coast of Portugal. The Fauna at the lesser depth was southern and 

 local, and at the greater depth comprised the following interesting species 

 of Mollusca: — Terebratula cranium, Limopsis borealis, L. aurita, Denta- 

 Hum abyssorum, Trochus amabilis, T. suturalis, Trophon costifer (Coral- 

 line Crag), Fusus antiquus, monstr. contrarium, F.fenestratus, and Pleu- 

 rotoma carinata. Among the Foraminifera were specimens of the beau- 

 tiful Orbitolites tenuissimus (sp. n., Carp.) found last year on the north- 

 west of Ireland (Report, par. 36), and some other peculiar forms. 



13. Wednesday, July 20th. Dredged all day with considerable success 

 at depths of from 380 to 994 fathoms (Stations 14-16), the wind and sea 

 having now gone down ; and we took with the scoop-net a few living spe- 

 cimens of Clio cuspidata. The dredgings in 380 and 469 fathoms yielded 

 among the Mollusca Leda lucida (Norwegian, and a Sicilian fossil ; pro- 

 bably included in Philippi's description of Nucula pellucida), Axinus eumy- 

 arius (also Norwegian), Ne&ra obesa (Spitzbergen to the west of Ireland), 

 Odostomia sp. n., O. minuta (Mediterranean), and Cerithium sp. n. ; and 

 among the Echinoderms were Brisinga endecacnemos and Asteronyx Loveni. 

 But the results of the Dredging in 994 fathoms were so extraordinary as to 

 excite our utmost astonishment. It being late in the evening, the contents 

 of the dredge could not be sifted and examined until daylight the next 

 morning. We then saw a marvellous assemblage of Shells, mostly dead, 

 and consisting of Pteropods, but comprising certain species which we had 

 always regarded as exclusively Northern, and others which Mr. Jeffreys 

 recognized as Sicilian Tertiary fossils, while nearly forty per cent, of the 

 entire number of species were undescribed, and some of them repre- 



