Abstract
I FEEL that I am indebted for the Opportunity of giving-an account of the French Expedition which forms the subject of this paper to my esteemed friend and colleague the Marquis de Folin of Bayonne. He was until lately the Commandant of that port, and is a most zealous and excellent naturalist. I may indeed say that the Expedition originated with him. For more than ten years he had at his own expense assiduously and carefully explored the sea-bed lying off Cap Breton, in the Department of the Landes, as well as could be done in a fishing-boat; and the result of his researches among the marine Invertebrata has been described, with illustrations by his pencil, in a useful work called, “Les Fonds de laMer,” published at Bayonne under his direction. M. de Folin has from time to time sent me the mollusca procured in his dredgings for my opinion; and our correspondence, with a visit which I paid him in December, 1878, led to his making an application to the French Government for the grant of a vessel to explore the depths which were known to exist at a comparatively short distance from the northern coasts of Spain in the Bay of Biscay. This evidently could not be done in a fishing-boat; and naturalists have much less money than science. It was in fact a project for a nation, and not for an individual. The application was, I believe, referred to the Dean of the Academy of Sciences, M. Milne-Edwards, whose reputation as an eminent zoologist has been universally recognised for more than half a century. His report was favourable 5 and a Government vessel was ordered to be placed at the disposal of a Commission, of which M. Milne-Edwards was appointed president. The other members of the Commission were the Marquis de Folin, Prof, Alphonse Milne-Edwards, Prof. Vaillant, Prof. Marion of Marseilles, Dr. Paul Fischer, and M. Perier of Bordeaux. The selection of these savants augured well for the success of the Expedition, and it has been fully justified. At the suggestion of M. de Folin, the Minister of Public Instruction graciously invited me and the Rev. A. M. Norman (a well-known zoologist) to take part in the expedition. Mr. Norman had been my valued companion for many years past in similar but less important excursions to Shetland and Norway. It was to me a great pleasure to be again associated with him. I regarded the invitation as far more than a compliment: it was a great honour.
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The French Deep-Sea Exploration in the Bay of Biscay 1 . Nature 22, 468–470 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022468a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022468a0
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