THE EUROPEAN SEAS. 



51 



entered into his pursuits. " Ever since I have begun 

 work," he writes, "the officers have been exceed- 

 ingly zealous in procuring animals for me, so that 

 my time is completely occupied, almost day and 

 night, for, from the constant light, and having 

 generally lots of animals on hand, I am anxious 

 that none should be lost. All are anxious to assist, 

 down to the men, who have got several very good 

 things for me. The boatswain is sometimes seen 

 running after a specimen with the large net in 

 hand." On the 25th of June (1845), when in 

 Davis Straits, soundings were taken in forty 

 fathoms, when a small dredge was put over. It 

 brought up starfishes, echini, mollusca, Crustacea, 

 and annellida. Among the shells was a small 

 Terebratula. On the 28th, they sounded in three 

 hundred fathoms, and sank the dredge at that great 

 depth. The bottom proved to be of greenish mud, 

 and they had " a capital haul, — mollusca, Crustacea, 

 asteridee, spatangi, corallines, a nondescript Fusus, 

 Isopoda, and what is interesting to me, my genus 

 Alauna, and your Brissus lyrifer (a curious sea- 

 urchin), and some fine corals." The floor of the 

 sea was composed of very fine green mud, which 

 when placed under the microscope, appeared to 

 be composed "of granitic particles." The next 

 day they sounded in two hundred and forty fathoms, 

 and met with the same green mud, but when, 

 this time, it was placed under the microscope, it 

 appeared to be composed of sandstone particles, 



