Book Description

Excerpt from The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Vol. 10: Zoology The special problems, with reference to which the hauls were planned, were (1) the vertical movement of the Epiplankton in relation to time of day, and, if possible, to such other varying conditions as rain, wind, and swell (2) the presence (or absence) in deep colder water Of organisms known to occur at the surface in higher latitudes, but not represented in the warmer surface-waters of the Bay of Biscay. Until the Reports on the various groups of animals are finished, it will be impossible to say how far the attempt on these two problems has been successful; but I venture to think that a glance at the table of hauls below (pp. 8 - 10) will Show that a serious attempt has been made to attack them. In this first communication those working data of the cruise are published which will make subsequent Reports intelligible. The methods of collection employed were: (1) ordinary open tow-nets (about 20 inches diameter, except net 180 which was 12 inches in diameter) towed by the ship's drift at the surface and at depths of 25, 50, 75, and 100 fathoms; (2) the opening and closing Mesoplankton net which had been previously used with success by myself in the Faeroe Channel, and by the Dutch Siboga Expedition in the East Indies (3) a Mesoplankton trawl, differing only from the latter in having a A-foot-square mouth, and a bag made of pilchard-netting, 9 feet in length, but with the same arrangements for opening and closing (4) at the close of the cruise, open tow-nets bent on to a wire rope at intervals between 100 and 350 fathoms, after the serial method in use on h.m.s. Challenger, ' for comparison with what I regard as the more certain method of a closing net. So far as I have Observed, while the serial method brings on deck a very much larger quantity of material, its condition is often not so good as that from the closing nets. On the question of the nets, some of my results may perhaps prove of use to other collectors on board ship. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.