voyage of the Bulldog, Captain Sir Leopold McClintock, Dr. Wallich being 
naturalist, there were brought up in the process of sounding, fragments of star 
fish, and sometimes living star fish, worms, and one or two shell- fish, from a 
very considerable depth — even up to 1 ,200 fathoms. So completely, however, 
had Edward Forbes' idea got hold of the minds of naturalists, that what 
eventually proved to be the just conclusions which Dr. Wallich drew from 
these observations were by no means universally received. There wasnoques* 
tion now that these animals did come from that very great depth. In 
1861 the telegraph cable between Sardinia and Algiers was taken up for 
repairs, and a celebrated French naturalist found animals attached to the 
cable, which were living at the very great depth of 1500 fathoms. In 
1866 the son of the celebrated Swedish naturalist, Prof. Sars, had the 
opportunity, through being Inspector of Fisheries under the Government, 
of dredging considerably over the bottom of the sea off the coast of Nor- 
way and Sweden. At a depth not exceeding 300 fathoms were found 
some very remarkable animals, more than one of which were representa- 
tive of and closely allied to animals, which were considered to be long ago 
extinct. A very important point was thus raised, and this was the cause, 
as it were, of the expedition sent out by the British Government. One 
specimen was closely allied to the group of crinoids or sea lilies — in fact 
a degraded type of the Apiocrinidae. Specimens were sent over to Professor 
Wyville Thomson, F.R,S., of Belfast, and were shown by him to other 
English naturalists, and the discovery was considered so important, that it 
was determined to urge the council of the Eoyal Society to press on the 
Admiralty the advisability of sending out an expedition and carrying on 
these very interesting investigations. 
In the summer of 1868 the council of the Royal Society, at the instance 
of Dr. Carpenter, V.P.R.S., urged the Admiralty to allow a vessel to be 
fitted out for such explorations in the North Atlantic Ocean. Her 
Majesty's Government was so good as to put a ship (H.M.S. Lightning) 
at the disposal of the Royal Society, and allow it to be fitted with appa- 
ratus. In August, 1868, the expedition sailed, accompanied by Dr. 
Carpenter and Professor Wyville Thomson. This expedition covered 
the ground between the North of Scotland and the Faroe Islands, 
and some of the results of it has been detailed before a special meeting of 
the Bristol Naturalists' Society in September, 1S6S, by Dr. Carpenter 
himself. 
[t was but a tentative expedition ; those who accompanied it had not 
all the apparatus they could have liked, but the results were so remark- 
