Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/65

 were smaller, but still considerable. I annex a list of the number of species dredged at the depth of 2700 feet, for the purpose of showing how these researches already affected questions depending on the relative proportion of recent and extinct species, as to the age of the newer geological deposits : —

Known species. New species. Total.

Mollusca 7 4 11

Crustacea 2 1 3

Echinodermata 3 0 3

Foraminifera 20 4 24

32 9 41

In 1867 Count Pourtales * dredged, between Florida and Cuba, in depths of about 3000 ft., and found a rich fauna of Mollusca, Crustacea, Corals, and Echinoderms.

Impressed with the value of these observations, and with the importance of a more systematic and yet deeper exploration of the ocean-bed, Dr. Carpenter, at the suggestion of Prof. Wyville Thomson, brought the subject before the Royal Society in June 1868. As the undertaking was beyond the reach of private enterprise, an application was made by the President and Council of the Society to the Government for a vessel for the purpose. The request was readily and liberally responded to ; a Government steamer was then, and again in 1869 and 1870, placed at the disposal of the Committee appointed for the purpose ; and a most important series of deep-sea dredgings have been carried out by the above-named naturalists and Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. Only the general results have, as yet been laid before the Eoyal Society. These, however, are quite sufficient to show that the expeditions have proved of the highest service to natural science, whether as regards the existence and distribution of animal life at great depths of the ocean, the temperature at various depths, the direction of the great oceanic currents, or the bearing of such investigations on the past history of our globe.

Almost everywhere the deep bed of the Atlantic was found covered in its greatest depth with a light-coloured calcareous mud, abounding in Globigerinoe, rich in siliceous sponges, and often supporting a varied fauna of Mollusca, Crustacea, and Echinoderms. Numerous valuable observations were also made on deep-sea tem-

' Silliman's Journal ' for Nov. 1868.
 * ' Bulletin of the Museum of Comp. Zoology,' Cambridge, U. S., 1867, and