946 
THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
Asiatic or Australian genera. But it should be mentioned that the time and means at 
the disposal of the Naturalists of the Expedition were quite inadequate for a full 
investigation of the flora of these groups. This part of the botany deals more especially 
with facts bearing upon the influence of oceanic currents on the dispersion of plants. 
And the drift seeds and seed-vessels collected by Mr. Moseley off the coast of New Guinea, 
together with stranded seeds from various parts of the world, are the subject of an 
Appendix.” 1 
It has been stated (p. 930) that the Diatomacese, collected in the tow-nets at the 
surface of the sea and procured from the deep-sea deposits by means of the dredge and 
trawl, will be described by Count Castracane in his Report. 
The Challenger Collections and Publications. — When, in 1872, Professor C. Wyville 
Thomson was invited by the Government to take the post of Director of the Civilian 
Scientific Staff of the Challenger Expedition, the Senatus Academicus and the Court 
of the University of Edinburgh granted him leave of absence from the duties of his 
chair for three years, and when the Expedition did not return within that time they 
extended the leave for another year. 
With the consent of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, it was arranged 
that the collections sent home during the voyage should be lodged in the University of 
Edinburgh till the return of the Expedition. Professor William Turner, F.R.S., under- 
took the temporary custody of these collections, and on the arrival of the consignments 
from the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, China, and Japan, personally superintended 
their examination for breakages. The boxes containing preserved specimens in spirit were 
opened, examined, and then replaced in the original boxes according to the catalogues. 
The Botanical collections made during the voyage were, however, on their arrival in 
England, sent direct to the Royal Gardens, Kew. 
On the arrival of the Expedition in England, the collections brought home in the 
ship were also transported to Edinburgh, and then the whole of the collections were 
unpacked and temporarily arranged in a large house belonging to the University. 
These extensive collections arrived in England without any mishap, and, generally 
speaking, in an excellent state of preservation. Among the thousands of bottles of all 
sizes, only three were broken. There had been very little evaporation of the spirit, and 
not a single specimen was missing according to the catalogues when they were unpacked 
in Edinburgh. 
After a correspondence between Her Majesty’s Treasury, the Council of the Royal 
Society, and the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson, it was arranged early in 1877 that the 
incidental or occasional collections made on shore during the Expedition, such as Mammals, 
Reptiles, Insects, should be sent at once in globo to the British Museum. The great bulk 
1 Appendix on the Dispersal of Plants by Oceanic Currents and Birds, Bot. Chall. Exp., part iii. p. 277, etseq., 1885. 
