312 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



proper, is partly in type; and will, it is hoped, be issued during 

 the summer of 1883. Other volumes also will appear from time to 

 time. 



In connexion with this subject, I may mention that the collection of 

 specimens from the "Challenger" Expedition are being received at 

 the British Museum, as the particular portions are released by the 

 progress of the publication of the Report. Those derived from the 

 " Alert " Expedition to the South Pacific Ocean, have been deposited 

 in the Museum by the Admiralty, and are now being arranged and 

 described. Dr. Gimther hopes to be able to produce a printed 

 descriptive catalogue of the collection before the expiration of the 

 present year. And I desire here to acknowledge the service rendered 

 to science by the Admiralty in commissioning Dr. Coppinger to 

 accompany that expedition for scientific purposes. 



I am indebted to Mr. Murray for the following interesting account 

 of a cruise made last summer to complete some part of the 

 " Challenger " work. 



H.M.S. " Triton " was engaged, from the 4th of August to the 4th 

 of September, in a re-examination of the physical and biological con- 

 ditions of the Faroe Channel. 



The chief objects of the cruise were to ascertain by actual sound- 

 ings, the character of a ridge running from the north of Scotland to 

 the Faroe fishing banks, and separating, at depths exceeding 300 

 fathoms, the cold Arctic water with a temperature about 32° from the 

 so-called Gulf Stream water on the Atlantic side with a temperature 

 of 47° F. This ridge was traced in considerable detail by means of 

 cross soundings directly across the channel, and the top was found to 

 be on an average about 260 fathoms beneath the surface. In the 

 northern half of the ridge, however, a small saddle-back was found 

 with a depth of a little over 300 fathoms, through which some of the 

 Arctic water seemed to flow and to spread itself over the bottom on the 

 Atlantic side of the ridge. The top of the ridge is entirely composed 

 of gravel and stones, but mud and clay are found on either side at 

 depths exceeding 300 fathoms. Many of the stones are rounded, and 

 some of them have distinct glacial markings. They are fragments of 

 sandstone, diorite, mica-schist, gneiss, amphibolite, chloritic rock, 

 micaceous sandstone, limestone, and other minerals. The ocean cur- 

 rents here appear to be strong enough, at a depth of between 250 

 and 300 fathoms, to prevent any fine deposit, such as mud or clay, 

 being formed on the top of the ridge. All the indications obtained 

 of the nature of this ridge, seem to imply that it may be a huge 

 (terminal ?) moraine. 



It is worthy of notice that the " Wyville Thomson Ridge " is only a 

 little to the east of the position marked out by Croll from the observa- 

 tions of Geikie, Peach, and others, as the probable limit of the perpen- 



