92 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
II IX LEY ON 
Globigkrina 
Ooze. 
Kathyuics. 
north of Berryman’s line of soundings. 1 He used a modified form of Brooke’s machine, 
, loi d instead of spherical, the weights suspended by wire instead of cord, the valve 
fnr collecting the sediment being also different. Besides 18,000 fathoms of sounding line, 
In had 4000 fathoms of whale line, and 5000 fathoms of silk cord r \y inch in diameter, 
lb carefully noted the intervals of time in the descent of each 100 fathoms of line 
paid out. From the Irish coast as far as long. 11° 15' W., the bottom was sandy, 
falling gradually to 90 fathoms. The deepest part on his line was between long. 15° 
and 45 W., where the deposit consisted of a plastic floury substance or ooze, 
which stuck to the line when drawn up. Pie thought this bed of ooze could not be 
very thick, for he occasionally found in it small pebbles, from wdiich he concluded that 
they must have come upon a hard rock. F'rom. long. 45° W. to the coast of New- 
foundland, he found a diversified bottom covered with stones and gravel ; in Trinity 
Bay the water is deep and the deposit a thick mud. 
Dayman’s soundings were examined and reported on by Professor Huxley, 2 
who found the samples obtained between 1700 and 2400 fathoms to be remarkable 
for their uniformity ; in the bottles containing them Huxley observed a viscous 
substance, and small round corpuscles soluble in acid, which he called Coccolitlis, and 
which lit regarded as the skeletal parts of a gigantic Moncron — Bathybius 3 — wide- 
spread uver the sea-bottom. When dry the deposit looked like chalk, and he observed 
hat the calcareous organisms formed the principal part, Globigerinci shells making 
up 85 per cent, of the mass ; siliceous organisms were also present, including Coscino- 
't /sens and other Diatoms. He considered the Globigerina Ooze to be of high scientific 
inter' st on account of its extent, depth, and resemblance to the Chalk, and discussed 
th- (juc.stion of the habitat of the Foraminiferous shells constituting the major part 
of the deposit. 
A < cording to the first hypothesis these shells must have been carried from compara- 
tively shallow wate to the spot whence they were procured; he refutes this idea by 
n birring to the special characters of the deep-sea fauna, remarking that if the shells had 
been thus transported they would have been associated with shallow-water organisms, 
which must incontestably have been carried along with them, especially as the large 
(ilobigeriiue, so abundant in the dee}) sea, are, in proportion to their size, heavier and 
mor- massive than the majority of Foraminifera. According to the second hypothesis 
th -( Rhizopods live in the surface waters and fall to the bottom after death ; Huxley 
D.ivn. in, I )iep-B<a Soundings in the North Atlantic made in H.M.S. “Cyclops,” in June and July 1857, London, 
] ' u LI h"l by the Admiralty, 1858. a Appendix to Dayman’s Report. 
>■ /V < Roy. O'otjr, vol. xiii. p. 110, 1869. lJnlhybius has now only an historical interest, for during the 
r Evp. ir.iun it shown that what was supposed to he a gigantic Moneron (Batlvybius) consisted of the 
„ nolphnb of lime thrown down, from the sea-water associated with the specimens of the ooze, by the alcohol 
in th- pn rvation of th< -.imph s of deep-sea deposits (see Narr. Chall. Exp., vol. i. p. 939). The Batlvylrius error 
■’ * f- ft d* • ■ ■ "rtain 1 1 . . tru- condition of the ooze on the sea-bed, and with this view instructions were given 
» If • 1 It. tin ... of too much ;d "hoi in the preservation of the samples of the ooze for detailed examination. 
