DEPOSITS OF THE ATLANTIC IN DEEP WATER, ETC. 
33 
pursuit of dredging operations in the little visited parts of the 
ocean. Who can tell what treasures may reward those who 
first dredge in the Sargasso sea, or in the tropical waters of the 
Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and in the Atlantic be- 
tween Africa and America ? That each cast of the dredge would 
bring up treasures of some kind is certain, provided only that 
there be a competent naturalist at hand to direct the work and 
record the results. Governments may and will vie with each 
other in this work. Whether the singular disinclination of our 
own Government and of naval commanders to employ ships for 
natural history work may be partly overcome, as might be 
supposed, by the recent success of the application of the Royal 
Society Council remains to be seen, but the American and 
Danish Governments have already intimated their intention 
of doing their share. The French are not likely to be far be- 
hind. There is ample room for all, and no fear need exist of 
any clashing of interests. More important facts than those re- 
sulting from widely-extended sounding and dredging operations 
can hardly be obtained, and at present the work done is as no- 
thing compared with that which remains. There should be no 
jealousy in such a matter either among individuals or nations. 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE LV. 
Chart of the north Atlantic canal, showing several lines of soundings, 
marked in hundreds of fathoms, and the set of various stream and drift 
currents. 
a. Recent Globigerina horn the Atlantic sea bottom ( Wallich ). 
b, c. Varieties of form of Globigerina from shallow water. 
d, e,f. Globigerinae from the chalk. 
g. Structure of flint highly magnified, showing sponge spicules. 
h, i, k, l. Varieties of form of recent sponge spicules. 
VOL. IX. — NO. XXXIV. 
D 
