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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
having a dendrocoelous intestine, it resembles the Planarins, but 
in all essential structures it is most distinctly a Nemertine.* 
With regard to Bathybius , the reputed animal organism, 
first described by Professor Huxley in 1868,f the organic nature 
of which has been denied by Dr. Wallich,J it seems highly 
probable that the latter observer is right, for Professor Huxley, 
a propos of a letter from Yeddo addressed to him by Professor 
Wyville Thomson (“Nature,” Aug. 19, 1875), states of Bathy- 
bius that it is “ seriously suspected that the thing to which I 
gave that name is little more than sulphate of lime, precipitated 
in a flocculent state from the sea-water by the strong alcohol in 
which the specimens of the deep-sea soundings which I examined 
were preserved.” “The strange thing is,” writes Professor 
Thomson, “that this inorganic precipitate is scarcely to be 
distinguished from precipitated albumen, and it resembles, 
perhaps even more closely, the proliferous pellicle on the 
surface of a putrescent infusion (except in the absence of all 
moving particles), colouring irregularly but very fully with 
carmine, running into patches with defined edges, and in every 
way comporting itself like an organic thing.” In the same 
letter it is stated that the “ pseudopodia ” of Globigerina , 
sought for in vain at the beginning of the cruise, have been at 
last, and frequently, seen. If a specimen be immediately 
transferred from the tow-net to some fresh sea-water, and be 
examined with a high power, the “ sarcodic contents of the 
chambers may be seen to exude gradually through the pores of 
the shell and spread out until they form a gelatinous fringe 
or border round the shell, filling up the spaces among the roots 
of the spines and rising up a little way along their length.” 
Coccospheres and Rhabdospheres live abundantly on the 
surface, especially in the warmer seas. If a bucket of water be 
allowed to stand over night with a few pieces of thread in it, 
many examples will be found attached. An unfailing supply, 
too, was found in the stomachs of Salpce. From very numerous 
observations it may be stated as an axiom, that whenever the 
depth increases from about 2,200 to 2,600 fathoms the modern 
chalk formation of the Atlantic and of other oceans passes 
into a clay — the “ red clay ” — through an intermediate stage, 
termed by Professor Wyville Thomson the “ grey ooze.” 
Concerning this red clay, which takes such an important 
* “Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.” 4th series, March and Dec. 1875, and 
PI. XI. 
t On some Organisms at Great Depths in the Atlantic , “ Quart. Journ. 
Micr. Science,” Oct. 1868, p. 210. 
t On the Vital Functions of the Deep Sea Protozoa, “Monthly Micr. Journ.” 
Jan. 1869, p. 38; and On the True Nature of the so-called “Bathybius." 
—“Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.” Nov. 1875, p. 122. 
