By the scientific zeal of Dr. Hooker (son of the well-known botanist), who was one of the voyagers on board the Erebus, a large collection has been formed and preserved, and forty small packets and three glasses of water from different parts of the ocean from Cape Horn to Victoria Land have been transmitted to me.
I received almost at the same time a similar quantity of materials of the same nature from other parts of the globe from Mr. Darwin.
It seemed right to examine without delay the contents of the water brought from the Polar Sea in 75° to 78° S. lat. 162° W. long.: as another such opportunity can hardly be looked for. Of the dried materials, only a few have yet been examined, chiefly from the most interesting localities, such as samples of deposits from melted Polar ice, and others taken from the bottom of the sea in latitudes from 63° to 78° South, and at depths from 190 to 270 fathoms. The results show, as I had anticipated, that in high Southern as well as in high Northern latitudes, and great oceanic depths, the minute forms of organic life are intensely and extensively developed.
The following details of the preliminary investigation (which are well assured in essential respects) may not be unwelcome to the Academy, and will at the same time convey the thanks of science to the enterprising voyagers who have brought home the materials.
It may be remarked in general, that those materials are very rich in wholly new typical forms, particularly so in new genera, with sometimes numerous species, forming generally the whole of the mass, though sometimes mixed with a little mud and fragments of small crustacea. The new genera and species are distinguished in the subjoined account. The Asteromphali are quite peculiar and very beautiful stellated forms.
