he sea; and such facts negative
the supposition that these organisms have been swept by currents from
the shallows into the deeps of the Atlantic.

It therefore seems to be hardly doubtful that these wonderful
creatures live and die at the depths in which they are found.[1]

[Footnote 1: During the cruise of H.M.S. Bull-dog, commanded by Sir
Leopold M'Clintock, in 1860, living star-fish were brought up,
clinging to the lowest part of the sounding-line, from a depth of 1260
fathoms, midway between Cape Farewell, in Greenland, and the Rockall
banks. Dr. Wallich ascertained that the sea-bottom at this point
consisted of the ordinary Globigerina ooze, and that the stomachs of
the star-fishes were full of Globigerinae. This discovery removes all
objections to the existence of living Globigerinae at great depths,
which are based upon the supposed difficulty of maintaining animal
life under such conditions; and it throws the burden of proof upon
those who object to the supposition that the Globigerinae live and die
where they are found.]

However, the important points for us are, that the living Globigerinae
are exclusively marine animals, the skeletons of which abound at the
bottom of deep seas; and that there is not a shadow of reason for
believing that the habits of the Globigerinae of the chalk differed
from those of the existing species. But if this be true, there is no
escaping the conclusion that the chalk itself is the dried mud of an
ancient deep sea.

In working over the soundings collected by Captain Dayman, I was
surprised to find that many of what I have called the "granules" of
that mud were not, as one might have been tempted to think at first,
the mere powder and waste of Globigerinae, but that they had a definite
form and size. I termed these bodies "_coccoliths_" and doubted their
organic nature. Dr. Wallich verified my observation, and added the
interesting discovery that, not unfrequently, bodies similar to these
"coccoliths" were aggregated together into spheroids, which he termed
"_coccospheres_." So far as we knew, these bodies, the nature of which
is extremely puzzling and problematical, were peculiar to the
Atlantic soundings.

But, a few years ago, Mr. Sorby, in making a careful examination of
the chalk by means of thin sections and otherwise, observed, as
Ehrenberg had done before him, that much of its granular basis
possesses a definite form. Comparing these formed particles with those
in the