202 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
the islands of Rum and Skye, so that to get a depth of 1000 feet one 
must go west of St. Kilda and Ireland, beyond the 100-fathoms line 
in the Atlantic ocean. There are no depths comparable to this in the 
North Sea, but the submarine valley known as the “Norwegian Gut,’’ 
which runs round the west and south coast of Norway, is remarkably 
deep, depths of 1794 feet (299 fathoms) and 1710 feet (285 fathoms) 
having been obtained at the part called “The Sleeve.” 
There are seven lakes on the continent of Europe which exceed 
Loch Morar in maximum depth, and in the following table their 
maximum depths, heights of the water surface above sea-level, and 
depths of their floors below sea-level, are shown as compared with 
Loch Morar. The first four of these lakes are in Norway, the other 
three are well-known Italian lakes. 
Name. 
Max. depth. 
Height above 
sea-level. 
Depth below 
sea-level. 
Ft et. 
Feet. 
Ftet. 
Hornisdalsvand 
1594*5 
167*3 
1427 2 
Mjosen ... 
1482*9 
396*9 
1086-0 
Salsvatn... 
1460 0 
42-6 
1417*4 
Tinnsjo 
1437*0 
606-9 
830*1 
Como 
1341*8 
652-9 
688*9 
Maggiore 
1220*4 
472*4 
748*0 
Garda 
1135*1 
213*2 
921*9 
Morar 
1017*0 
30*5 
986*5 
The Lake of Geneva, in which very important and comprehensive 
limnological work has been done by Prof. Forel, Dr. Ed. Sarasin, and 
others, has a maximum depth of 1013*8 feet, and the height of the 
water surface is 1220*4 feet above sea-level ; the deepest part of the 
lake-floor does not, therefore, go below sea-level, but lies at 206*6 feet 
above it. 
Temperature Observations . — A large number of observations on the 
temperature of the water of Loch Morar has been made in various 
seasons and in different years. On April 29 and September 3, 1887, Sir 
John Murray took several series of temperatures, ranging from the 
surface to the bottom. In the April observations the temperature 
varied from 43°*9 at the surface to 42°*0 at the bottom, a range of 
1°*9, and in September the variation was from 57°*8 at the surface to 
42°*1 at the bottom, a range of 15°*7. On July 2 and 3, 1902, serial 
temperatures were taken by the Lake Survey, and the variation was 
from 55°*2 at the surface to 42°*2 at the bottom, a range of 13°*0. 
Subsequently, on March 28, 1903, the temperature was found to be 
* The figures referring to these continental lakes are derived from “Halbfass, Die 
Morphometrie der Europaischen Seen,” Zeitschr. Gesellsch. Erdk. Berlin^ Jahi'g. 1903, 
p. 692; 1904, p. 204. 
