Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 27.djvu/64

This page needs to be proofread.

Ehrenberg, on the other hand, believed that they had lived at those depths.

Similar results were obtained on a line of still deeper soundings, extending to 14,400 ft., made in 1857 by Capt. Dayman ; and Prof. Huxley, who reported on them, concluded that in all probability the Globigerinoe did live at those depths.

In 1860 Dr. Wallich* carried out an important series of deep-sea researches in connexion with the soundings made on board H.M.S. ' Bulldog,' and obtained some very interesting results. He not only confirmed the prevalence of a Globigerina-mud in the great depths of the Atlantic, but also gave much evidence in favour of the Globigerinoe living at those depths. Dr. Wallich also brought up two living Crustacea from a depth of 2670 ft., and living Serpuloe, Spirorbes, and Polyzoa from a depth of 4080 ft. His most remarkable discovery, however, was that of living starfishes at a depth of 7560 ft. ' Dr. Wallich' s researches mark another epoch in the history of deep- sea explorations.

The following year further discoveries were made in the Mediterranean, between Sardinia and Algiers†. It having become necessary to raise the French telegraph cable after it had been submerged five years, it was found that at places various Mollusca, Corals, and Bryozoa had grown upon it. Portions of the cable, stated to have been raised from depths of from 6500 to 9000 ft., were submitted to M. Milne-Edwards, who determined the following species, to which I have added their geological range : —

Ostrea cochlear. Coralline Crag. Caryophyllia arcuata.

Pecten opercularis. Coralline and — electrica, sp. n.

Red Crag. Thalassiotrochus telegraphicus, sp. n.

Testae. Salicornaria farciminoides.

Monodonta limbata. Serpula.

Fusus lamellosus. of Italy. Gorgonia.

The Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen in the same year (1861) also determined the presence, at a depth of 8400 ft., of various Mollusca, Crustacea, and Hydrozoa.

Between 1860 and 1868 a series of most valuable researches was carried on off the coast of Upper Norway by the late Professor Sars and his son, at depths of from 1800 to 2700 feet: At the former depth they found an abundant fauna ; at the latter the collections

  • ' Notes on the Presence of Animal Life at Vast Depths in the Sea, '

1860, and ' On the North Atlantic Sea-bed,' 1862.

† Ann. des Sciences Nat. 4e ser. vol. xv. p. 3.