THE HUMBOLDT CURRENT 
385 
the present coast. How far it reached will be more fully dis¬ 
cussed in the subsequent chapters. It may only compara¬ 
tively recently have subsided. May not the remarkable cir¬ 
cumstance, alluded to by Dr. Bigelow,* that to the south-west 
and west of the Humboldt current the sea is almost entirely 
devoid of surface as well as bottom life, be due to this 
cause ? 
* Bigelow, H. B., “ Albatross Expedition—Medusae,” p. 222. 
