It was known that different types of Foraminifera abound at different depths on the coasts of the ocean; but it was long believed that no living creature could exist in its dark and profound abyss. By deep-sea sounding, it has been ascertained that the basin of the Atlantic Ocean is a profound and vast hollow or trough, extending from pole to pole; in the far south, it is of unknown depth, and the deepest part in the north is supposed to be between the Bermudas and the Great Banks of Newfoundland. But by a regular series of soundings made by the officers of the navies of Great Britain and the United States, for the purpose of laying a telegraphic cable, that great plain or steppe was discovered, now so well known as the telegraphic plateau, which extends between Cape Race in Newfoundland, and Cape Clear in Ireland. From depths of more than 2,000 fathoms on this plateau, the ooze brought up by the sounding machine consisted of 97 per cent. of Globigerinæ. The high state of preservation of these delicate shells was no doubt owing to the perfect tranquillity which prevails at great depths; for the telegraphic plateau and the bed of the deep ocean everywhere is covered by a stratum of water unruffled by the commotion raised by the hurricane which may be raging on the surface. The greater number of the Globigerinæ were dead empty shells; but although in many the animal matter was quite fresh, Professor Bailly of New York could not believe that such delicate creatures could live on that dark sea bed, under the pressure of a column of water more than 2,000 fathoms high, a weight equal to rather more than that of 340 atmospheres or 5,100 lbs. on every square inch of sea-bed; wherefore he concluded that the tropical ocean and the Gulf Stream, which absolutely swarm with animal life, must have been the birth-place and home of these minute creatures, and that this mighty ‘ocean river,’ which divides at the Great Banks of Newfoundland, and spreads its warm waters like a fan over the north Atlantic, deposits their remains over its bed, which has thus been their grave-yard for unknown periods, and which, in the lapse of geological time, may be raised above the waves as dry land. Professor Ehrenberg on the contrary concluded that residentiary life exists at the bottom of the ocean, both from the freshness of the animal matter found in the shells, and from the number of unknown forms which are discovered from time to time at various and often great depths along the coasts. This opinion has been confirmed beyond a doubt on several occasions, especially by Dr. Wallich, who accompanied an expedition sent under the command of Sir Leopold M‘Clintock, to sound the North Atlantic for laying a telegraphic line.