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THE VOYAHE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
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board, were conducted with increasing certainty and success. From want of time, from 
stress of weather, and other causes, it was very frequently impossible to carry out all the 
ilesirablc observations at the different positions, hence there is a very great disproportion 
in the information recorded at the various stations. 
When the Challenger left England no definite arrangements had been made as to 
how the biological work was to be distributed among the naturalists, or what was to be 
done with the collections brought together during the Expedition. In the course of 
a few mouths the specimens from land expeditions, from shallow- water and deep-sea 
ilredainjis and trawlings, had accumulated to such an extent in the work-rooms as to be 
exceedingly inconvenient ; many of them had commenced to suffer, and a few were actu- 
ally destroyed, from insufficient attention in their .preservation. It became absolutely 
necessjiry to apj)ortion the work, and to agree on a plan with reference to the collections 
as a whole. Some of the naturalists held that their first duty was to examine the speci- 
mens procured, to figure and describe the most interesting, and to reduce the preserved 
collections to the smallest possible bulk. Others were of opinion that the largest possible 
collections should be made, and that their chief duty should be to note the condition of 
the specimens in the living state or at the time of capture, it being urged that the success- 
ful description of the collections could only take place after the return of the Expedition. 
It soon became evident that large collections, even of one group, could not be retained 
in the work-rooms for comparison and description. At short intervals it was necessary 
to clear away the specimens to make room for those captured at succeeding stations, and 
when once placed in the hold of the ship the specimens were not again easily available for 
examination. The labour of preserving, labelling, packing, and storing the collections 
was very great, and members of the Expedition felt that these collections should not be 
•lLstril)uted to specialists at home before the return of the Expedition, for in that case 
many of their observations on board ship could not be subjected to the test of subsequent 
examination. Perfect agreement j)robably never existed among the naturalists as to the 
best manner of dealing with the zoological collections, but arrangements were ultimately 
made which enabled the investigations to be carried on with convenience and success. 
O 
It w;is understood that the naturalists should not .send home private collections. It 
wa-s arranged, with the consent of the Admiralty, that all the collections should be sent 
to Professor William Turner of the University of Edinburgh, who, at the request of his 
colleague. Professor Wyville Thom.son, undertook to examine their condition on arrival, 
and to take charge of them till the return of the Expedition. These collections, as well 
ris those brought home in the shij), were stored in the University of Edinburgh for many 
years free of cost to the Government. 
When the contents of a dredge or trawl were being examined after a successful haul. 
Professor Thomson usually took charge of the Echinoderms, Dr von Willemoes-Suhm of 
the Crustaceans and Annelids, .Mr Mo.scley of the Corals, Molluscs, and Sponges, and Mr 
