90 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGE LI. 
Animal* 
ATTAOiirn to 
SuiiMARINK C. 
M K1>ITKK- 
RAN'KAN. 
rancan p i ted at a depth of 1200 fathoms, and was raised for repair under the direction 
of the electrical engineer, Fleeming Jenkin. Forty miles of cable were drawn up, bring- 
ing with it a quantity of Coral and other organisms, a few specimens of which were sent 
to Professor Allman, who made a list of fifteen varieties of animal life, including eggs of 
aCepli dopod, Grantia, Plumularia, Gorgonia , Alcyonium, Cellepora, Retepora, Esclmra , 
Stlicormria, Asc'ra, Limn, and Serpulcc. Wyville Thomson says that, according to 
Jenkins private journal which he was allowed to consult, a specimen of Caryophyllia, a 
true Coral, was found adhering to the cable at 1200 fathoms, the very point where it 
had snapped. Some portions of the cable were subsequently examined by A. Milne- 
Edwards, 1 who showed that the animals were living at the bottom, for their soft parts 
were preserved, and the bases of the ('orals, &c., were moulded on the inequalities of the 
cable. Among the Mollusca were Ostrea cochlear, found in many parts of the Mediter- 
ranean ; Pecten operculans, common in the Mediterranean, which was found adhering to 
the cable at a depth of 1100 fathoms (?) and was highly coloured ; Pecten testa 1 ,; a small 
somewhat rare comb-shell; and two Gasteropods. Corals were more numerous than 
Mollusca, including a species apparently identical with Caryophyllia arcuata, found fossil 
in the upper strata of Piedmont and at Messina, and another species of the same genus, 
Cai'yopliyllia electi'ica, quite similar to a Pliocene fossil found by Deshayes at Donera, 
Algeria. 2 Besides these, two Seiyulae, some Bryozoa, and a few Gorgonia; were observed. 
The result of these observations proved that forms till then known only as fossils existed 
at the bottom of modern seas. In directing the attention of geologists to these dis- 
coveries, Prestwich 8 shows the connection between some of the species collected and the 
geological strata : — 
Ostrea cochlear, Coralline Crag. 
Pecten opercularis, Coralline and Red Crag. 
Pecten testae, \ 
Monodonta limhata, > Pliocene strata of Italy. 
Fusus laminosus, ) 
Previous to these observations the existence of living animals at considerable depths 
was .-till regarded by many naturalists as doubtful ; it was held to be uncertain whether 
tin: creatures found adhering to the sounding line or caught in the sounding machine 
came really from the bottom or were captured in intermediate waters. The discovery 
by Fleeming Jenkin of members of the higher groups living attached to the cable 
1 Ol » r rations -ur lYxistenrc do diver; Mollusques ct Zoophytes & de tr£s grandes profondeurs dans la iner Med- 
iUTTan< <\ Ann. Sri. Nat., Zool. scr. 4, tom. xv. pp. 149-157, 1861. 
’ W \ lli T1 >iii >in (Depths of the Sea, p. 29) states that according to Jenkin’s notes only one or two species, parti- 
r jlurly C'lrv j'yllia Karra! , wort found adhering to the cable at depths exceeding 1000 fathoms. From that depth 
J* ; «in him-- If took off sjurimen* of Caryophyllia. Thomson suspects that specimens from lesser depths were mixed 
with the deeper omn in the series examined by Milne-Edwards. 
: Pri'sidential Address, Quart. Joum. CeoL Sor., vol. xxvii., 1871. 
