94 
THE INDIAN MUSEUM: 1814—1914. 
Alcock,^—“ deep-sea dredging at last took its proper, if 
secondary, place in the economy of the Marine Survey of 
India.” 
The biological equipment of the ship at this time, as has 
already been pointed out, was very much the same as that 
employed on the ' Challenger ’ : a large trawl of the ' Blake ’ 
pattern was used for deep-water investigations, and was 
towed by a long hemp rope; for shallow-water work there 
were small dredges and a small trawl. Commander Carpenter 
was also very fond of using the '' tangle-bar.” 
It was during the survey season 1884-85 that deep-sea 
research was commenced; hauls were carried out at two 
stations on opposite sides of the Bay of Bengal in 1884, and 
during the latter part of the season, in 1885, the ship was 
surveying the region round the mouths of the Ganges and 
Hughli, and several trawls were made, one, at least, actually 
in the “ swatch of no ground,” at depths ranging from 285 
to 409 fathoms. 
As was but natural at the commencement of a survey, 
the localities in which w’ork was carried out, were somewhat 
scattered, and during a single season the ship would visit and 
carry out surveys of several places: thus, during the survey 
season 1886-87 the areas under observation ranged from 
Chittagong to Madras, then from Porbandar to the Laccadive 
Islands, and finally from Ceylon to the Andamans. In this 
way it was possible to get glimpses of the faunistic character 
of numerous widely-separate regions, but it was impossible 
to make a systematic survey of any one locality. 
As has already been mentioned, the Surgeon-Naturalist 
during the “ recess” season, from May to October, returns to 
the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and there works out the col¬ 
lections that he has made. During the first few years of the 
survey, it was impossible that any systematic work of para¬ 
mount importance could be undertaken, but several short 
papers, dealing chiefly with the amphipoda, were published by 
^ Major A. Alcock, M.B., C.M.Z.S., F.G.S., “A Summary of the Deep- 
Sea Zoological Work of the Royal Indian Marine Survey Ship Investigator 
from 1884 to 1897.” Scientific Memoirs hy Medical Officers of the Army of 
India, Part XI, 1898. 
