THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
181 
Exploration in the Black Sea. 
Or December 16th Captain Spindler read 
before the Russian Geographical Society a paper 
on his deep-sea explorations in the Black Sea 
during last summer. They were made, in May, 
on board the war-sloop Donets , and in July, on 
board another war-sloop the Zaporojets , to com- 
plete the explorations of the previous year, and 
to verify more closely the interesting results of 
that year’s researches, In May, the soundings 
were carried on in the north-western parts of the 
Black Sea, and along lines crossing the sea from 
Sebastopol to Sinope, to Constantinople, and to 
Varna. In July, they were made partly along the 
same line, and partly in the south-east and along 
the coasts of Anatolia and Caucasia. No less 
than 128 soundings, of which 58 were at great 
depths, were made during these two cruises, and 
at each spot the temperature, the density, and 
the salinity of the water were measured. Sam- 
ples of water taken from depths above 100 
fathoms were chemically analysed. The time 
between these two cruises was given to the explo- 
ration of the Sea of Azov on board the schooner 
Kazbek . The Soundings made in 1890. The 100 
fathoms’ line lies close to the shores of both the 
Crimea and Anatolia, and the axis of the greatest 
depression has a direction from south-west to 
north-east. The steepest coast was found at Rizo, 
situated between Batoum and Trebizond, where the 
angle of inclination attains 10°. The water of the 
Black Sea begins to be warmed by the air in May, 
and in August its temperature is higher than 
that of the atmosphere. The variations of tempe- 
rature at the surface liebetwen 77 c and 43° to 41° 
Fahr., while on the northern shore it is sometimes 
cooled down to 32° Fahr. Below a depth of 200 
fathoms the temperature is invariably 48°, this 
high temperature being due entirely to the deep 
current of warmer and salter water which flows 
from the Mediterranean through the Bosphorus, as 
fully appears from this year’s soundings. The 
annual variations of temperature due to the seasons 
do not penetrate deeper than 100 fathoms, this 
depth may also be taken as the average inferior 
limit of organic life, the deeper strata of water 
being infected with sulphureted hydrogen. As to 
the Sea of Azov, which has no depth more than 
eight fathoms, its water is so thoroughly mixed 
by each gale, that no difference could be detected 
between the temperatures and densities at the 
surface and at the bottom. The observations upon 
currents fully confirmed the existence of a circular 
current which flows from the Crimea to the north- 
west, and then south in the western part of the 
sea. As to the flora and fauna of the Black Sea, 
Captain Spindler is of opinion that his observa- 
tions fully confirm the opinion current among 
many Russian explorers, namely, that formerly it 
was a closed basin, which had a fresh-water fauna; 
but that since the Bosphorus was pierced, and 
gave access to salt water, this latter took posses- 
sion of the greater depths, and compelled the 
former fresh-water fauna to migrate to the mouths 
of the rivers. But further biological exploration 
is required — this one fact being, however, quite 
certain, viz., that below the 100 fathoms’ lay:r 
there is no organic life, because the water is so 
much impregnated with sulphureted hydrogen. 
Proc. E. Geog . Soc . 
NOTES AND NEWS. 
A meeting of the members of the Botanical So- 
ciety of France was held at Biskra in Algeria a 
fortnight ago. 
M uch as the Mediterranean mosquito has to ans- 
wer for, the effects of its attacks are mild compared 
with those of the mosquito of Newfoundland and 
Northern Asia. 
The sting of the pests in these districts is suffi- 
ciently powerful to perforate a leather glove. 
A writer in Nature giving a resume of the reasons 
adduced by Dr. A. Woeskof of St. Petersburgh to 
account for the famine in Russia, attributes it 
principally to drought from August to October 
1890 which injured the winter crops ; to partial 
and insufficient snow which melted early in the 
Spring and was followed by frost in April; and 
