278 
THE MEDITERRANEAN NATURALIST 
contained skeletons or parts of dead organisms. 
The mud of great depths is usually covered with a . 
deposit of carbonate of lime, and sometimes with 
a black crust of sulphide of iron. A deposit 
of red iron oxide is frequently found upon 
the mud and shells brought up from less depths, j 
In May the upper zone of the water, in which life 
exists, may be roughly divided into three layers. 
In the superficial layer down to 25 fathoms, the 
temperature (46° to 44°.6), which extends from 25 
to 40 fathoms, and in the lower layer down to 100 . 
fathoms the the temperature slowly rises from 
46° to 48° F. The last-mentioned layer was cha- 
racterised by the abundance of full-sized Copepods 
the middle one, by its richness in Sagitt while 
the lower parts of the upper layer contained num- 
bers of Ctenophores ( Hormiphora , Pleurobrach ia), ! 
Appendicularhe, and the medusa Aurelia aurita. 
The lower limits of organic life are determined by 
the abundance of sulphuretted hydrogen in the 
configuration of the bottom. A characteristic 
representative of the fauna of the greater depths 
(70 to 90 fathoms) is the little Crustacean Apseude-s 
(the species is named ccecus by the author), which 
lost its eyes, and has instead two slightly translu- 
cent buttons. The Mediterranean Holothurian, 
which was discovered last year by Mr. Andrusoff, 
opposite the Bosphorus, undoubtedly is an immi- 
grant from the west. It is also quite common 
along the Anatolian coast at depths below 50 
fathoms, and it has been found twice (70 fathoms) 
off the south coast of the Crimea. In its migrat- 
ions in the Black. Sea, it must have derived an 
advantage from its easy accomodation to life in 
less salt water. The south-western part of the Black 
Sea, off the Bosphorus, is rich with species which 
have immigrated from the west. The preliminary 
results of the chemical analyses of water at diffe- 
rent depths, which are published in the same 
volume, by the chemist of the expedition, A. Le- 
bedintseff, are also very interesting, although a 
considerable time will yet be required to complete 
the analyses. As the result of analyses at fifty- 
seven stations, one litre of water (at normal tem- 
perature and pressure) was found to contain 
gaseous sulphuretted hydrogen in solution in the 
proportion of 0\33 cubic centimetres at 100 fathoms 
increasing to 2‘22 cubic centimetres at 200 fathoms, 
and no less than 6'55 cubic centimetres at the 
bottom. The salinity of the water v as it ’rermined 
by the chemical method at 140 different stations. 
It appear r hat the water of the .Sea of Azov conta- 
ins, as a rule, only one-half the amount of com- 
bined chlorine found in the superficial layers of 
the Black Sea, namely, from 5'32 to 6'02 gram- 
mes per litre of water, and that this amount 
varies very little with the increase of de; 'th- 
in the Black Sea the amount of chlorine varies, in 
the superficial layers, from 7'6 grammes off the 
Danube to about 10 grammes elsewhere. A* a 
spot where the lower current of salt Mediterranean 
water is supposed to flow in from the Bosphorus, 
the amount of clorine was 9'31 grammes per litre. 
The salinity increased gradually to 1165 at 30 
fathoms, and then abruptly to 19'30 at 4 fathoms, 
where the water was as salt that of the ocean. The 
amount of organic matters contained in the wate. 
also increases with increasing depth. From the 
geographical point of view such preliminary con- 
clusions as may be drawn are of value, because 
they show how closely physical researches bear - i . 
the origin of tho existing distribution of land and 
water. They throw light on that border-land 
which the geologist cannot enter from his side, 
and to which the historical geographer cannot 
reach back from ours. In this scarcely-touched 
department of synthetic research it is not too 
much to hope that the origin of many of the events 
of history may ultimately be found. 
Journ. E. G. S. 
On the Vine and Potato Disease 
in Malta. 
In no country have the efforts of the agricul- 
turist to combat the virulent diseases of the pota- 
to and the vine been carried out with more vigour 
and persistency, and been attended with more 
complete success than in France. 
The mildews Okliuni and Peronotp-ra that have 
attacked the French vines, have been, as our rea- 
ders are already aware from the recently published 
report of the Malta Vine commission, in the Malta 
vineyards for some time past. A few remarks 
therefore upon the results of the, recent experi- 
ments that have been carried out by the French 
savants may be both interesting and instructive to 
