NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 
895 
species new and old, with some 400 more indistinguishable forms, that is 1300 to 
1400 in all. 
“At thirty-nine places not reckoned as Stations, but where gatherings were made on 
the shore, in harbour, or in quite shallow water outside, 338 old species, 91 new, and 155 
indistinguishable forms were found, or 584 in all, on an average 15 forms from each place. 
“At fifty-seven Stations from 0 to 400 fathoms, 314 old species, 309 new species, 
and 196 indistinguishable forms were found, or 819 in all. an average of L4 forms from 
each Station. 
“At thirty-seven Stations from 400 down to 2650 fathoms there were found 81 old 
species, 127 new, and 39 indistinguishable forms, or in all 247, rather less than 7 from 
each Station. The greatest depth from which any Gasteropod was obtained was 2650 
fathoms, in the South Atlantic. The solitary specimen of Stylifer brychius, Watson, 
dredged at that depth was preserved in spirit, but I failed to extract the animal, owing 
to the shell being so delicate that no force could be used. The colour is that pale 
uniform buff so common in deep-sea Mollusca, With nearly, though not absolutely, 
uniform constancy the deeper the water the rarer were the specimens. 
“ The absolute number of species is thus obviously considerable, but as a representation 
of the whole sea bottom reached by the Expedition the result is very small. 
“ The cause of this fact is of course deserving of careful inquiry. The Mediterranean 
depths and the Sargasso Sea bottom are certainly poor in all life, but the ‘ Blake ’ dredg- 
ings by the United States Government in the Gulf of Mexico and up the course of the Gulf 
Stream seem to indicate an immense wealth of Molluscan life at very considerable depths, 
and the French Government dredgings in the North Atlantic, and especially along the 
west coast of Africa, point on the whole in the same direction, though there are indications 
of individual spots of great poverty ; but to what the poverty of these spots is due — 
whether to stagnation of the water, nature of the ground, volcanic agencies, or currents 
— is not obvious. 
“ As regards the shells themselves, some forms of singular beauty have been found. 
Such are Cassis wyvillei from the Philippines in 115 fathoms (like, but quite distinct 
from, a very rare West Indian species), Fusus pay ocloides from 410 fathoms off Sydney, 
Provocator pulcher, a new Volute from Kerguelen, and Guivillea alabastrina , 1 the latter, 
a pure white alabaster Volute of exceptional form, from a depth of 1600 fathoms in the 
Southern Ocean. Of all the Molluscs got by the Expedition, Guivillea alabastrina (see 
fig. 328) is certainly the most valuable. It is large ; the shell is singularly beautiful in 
form and colour ; it comes from a great depth, and its generic features are very peculiar. 
It is unfortunate that it is somewhat broken. In the act of its capture, or in the extraction 
of the animal, the shell must have been slightly crushed, and the fragments lost. To 
me it came most carefully packed in cotton- wadding ; but one or two small pieces of 
1 Originally described under the generic name “ JVyvillea,” which was afterwards found to he preoccupied. 
(NAUR CHAT.L. EXP. — VOL. J, — 1885.) 113 
