TIUWLING NEAR, GIBRALTAR . 
17 
of the ordinary grey ooze of the Atlantic. The gale 
had blown over, and we experienced light easterly and 
northerly winds, which enabled ns to get a few suc- 
cessful hauls with the dredge, and soundings between 
the coast in the neighbourhood of Lisbon and the 
deep water to the south-west in the direction of 
Madeira : the incline was found to slope gently 
down to 1475 fathoms, with a muddy bottom at 
31 miles distant from the shore. 
When a little to the south of Cape St. Yincent, 
it was proposed to try the common trawl, and one 
with a 15-foot beam was lowered in 600 fathoms ; it 
went down all right, and, after being towed for some 
hours, was drawn in just as easily as the dredge. 
There w 7 as no lack of living things, strange-look- 
ing fish with their eyes blown nearly out of their 
head by the expansion of the air in their air-blad- 
ders, while entangled amongst the meshes were many 
starfish and delicate zoophytes shining with a vivid 
phosphorescent light. On another occasion of using 
the trawl, an object of very great interest was 
brought to light, and afforded an opportunity of 
seeing one of those highly prized and beautiful spe- 
cimens of the Euplectella, or Venus’s flower-basket, 
alive.* It is an object most beautiful in form and 
structure, consisting of a slightly curved conical tube 
8 or 10 inches in height, contracted beneath to a 
blunt point and expanded above to the width of about 
* Professor Thomson, in ‘ Good Words.’ 
