Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London - University Library

LINNEAJf SOCIETY OF LOXDOX. 9
February 1st-, 1906.
Prof. W. A. Herdma>-, F.E.S., President, in the Chair.
The Minutes of the General Meeting of the 18th January were
read and confirmed.
Dr. "William Thomas Caiman was admitted a Fellow.
Mr. Hugh Findon, Mr. James Eustace Eadcliffe McDonagh,
M.E.C.8., L.E.C.P., Mr. Thomas Hawkes Eussell, and Mr. Erufst
Justus Schwartz, M.A. Cantab., B.Sc.Lond., were proposed as
Fellows.
By special invitation of the Council, Mr. J. Staxlet Gakdiner,
M.A., gave an account of the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition in
H.M.S. ' Sealark ' to the Indian Ocean, of which he was leader. ^
In 1904, at the request of the Eoyal Society, His Majesty's
Government agreed to allow the Author to undertake a six months'
cruise in H.M.S. ' Sealark' in the following year, to investigate the
western part of the Indian Ocean between India and Madagascar.
The author was responsible forthe whole work, and with Mr.Forster
Cooper took charge especially of the biology and geology, while
Commander Boyle Somerville and the Officers of H.M.S.
' Sealark '
did most of the practical work connected with the oceanography.
Leaving Colombo on May 9, 1905, H.M.S. ' Sealark ' proceeded
to the Chagos Archipelago, where a stay of two months was made :
Salomon, Peros Banhos, Diego Garcia, and Egmont, all ring-shaped
reefs with land, were carefully examined, and the first resurveyed
on a big scale. The reefs were found to be very largely formed by
calcareous algge, and the marine fauna to be singularly poor in
species. jS^umerous soundings were put down between the different
atolls and banks, and sections were run off Salomon Atoll, where
also a series of dredgings was obtained. The talus slope off the
reefs was very marked, and the bottom between the different banks
was found to be current-swept down to 500 fathoms.
The expedition having left Mauritius on August 22nd, the
submerged Nazareth and Saya de Malha Banks were examined
and dredged. Coetivy was next visited, and its fauna and flora,
terrestrial and marine, carefully collected for comparison with the
Chagos. The line between Madagascar and Seychelles was then
investigated. The low hills of Farquhar were found to be merely
sand dunes, while St. Pierre turned out to be a raised coral island.
Off Providence specimens were obtained of a volcanic rock, which
probably forms the foundation of that coral bank, .llphonse and
Desroehes were subsequently visited, and the Amirante Bank was
carefully dredged ; Poivu Darros, St. Joseph, and Eagle Islands
also being examined.