Survey of the Submerged Intake, and Associated Horizons of the Saltpan Depression (Station No. 1)

Extract from the Minutes of the Special Committee of the Commissioners

of the Saltpan Intake and Estuary Drainage, held at the Session-House,

Borough of Silt-Mouth, on the 14th day of April, 1858.

Present:

Sir Thomas Vane, Bart., Chairman.

E. R. Hatherly, Esq., C.E., Engineer-in-Chief.

Commander G. Boyce, R.N., representing the Hydrographic Office.

The Revd. Julian Crane, M.A., F.L.S.

(Mr. Hatherly desired his abstention to be minuted, declining to certify any expenditure upon the organic collection until the drainage-siphon be cleared).

IT WAS RESOLVED:

• That Mr. Arthur P. Cradock be, and he is hereby, retained and appointed as Field Surveyor and Resident Naturalist to the Commission, to conduct a systematic and uninterrupted Survey of the North-West Fissure, or “Submerged Intake,” situate in the marine depression known as the Saltpan Basin (herein designated as Station No. 1).
• The Scope of the Inquiry shall embrace:
• First, the diurnal observation of the Barometer, Thermometer, and Saline Specific Gravity of the water issuing from the subterranean fissure;
• Secondly, the accurate hydrographic sounding of the fissure-throat, referred strictly to the permanent datum benchmark, as established in the Station Register, and the registration of the advance or recession of the brine-ice during the lower temperatures;
• Thirdly, the collection and microscopic verification of all algæ, halophytes, and entomostracous or amphipodous crustacea residing within or immediately adjacent to the said Intake, in order to ascertain if the subterranean current be fed from marine silt or mineral springs prejudicial to the commercial salt-pans;
• Fourthly, the careful mounting of dissections in Canada balsam upon standard glass slips, to be indexed sequentially from No. 1 upwards, and deposited in the Commission’s cabinets (save only the smaller littoral Entomostraca, which may be preserved aggregate in spirit phials without immediate dissection).
• That the said Surveyor be furnished with all necessary instruments from the store of the Admiralty Hydrographer (as scheduled overleaf), and do record his findings daily in the prescribed Ledger without addition, abbreviation, or erasure; such Ledger to be closed and rendered up, complete or not, at the Michaelmas audit.

(Signed)
THOMAS VANE, Chairman.
G. BOYCE, Commander, R.N.

Folio III — SCHEDULE OF APPARATUS & REAGENTS

Schedule of Instruments, Field Apparatus, and Chemical Reagents delivered

into the custody of Mr. A. P. Cradock at the Admiralty Store, Silt-Mouth,

28th April 1858.

I. Optical Instruments & Measurement:

• One Compound Microscope by Andrew Ross, London (No. 412), fitted with rackwork coarse and screw fine adjustments, mechanical stage, and sub-stage condenser; with 1-inch and 1/4-inch achromatic object-glasses.
• One Stage Micrometer on glass, divided by Jackson to 1/100th and 1/1000th of an English inch.
• One Eyepiece Screw Micrometer with drum reading to single divisions of the cross-wire.
• One Dissecting Trough with leaded bottom; one set of camel-hair pencils, scalpels, and mounted needles.
• One 6-inch Ivory Pocket-Rule, divided to lines and tenths of a millimetre; one pair of 4-inch brass spring-dividers.

II. Meteorological & Hydrographic Apparatus:

• One Marine Barometer (Admiralty pattern No. 18) by Negretti & Zambra, mounted in gimbals on the punt bulkhead.
• Two Standard Mercurial Thermometers by Casella, divided on the glass tube from −10° to +120° Fahr., in slotted brass cases:
• No. 88 [mounted in the punt; lost with the boat in the August floe].
• No. 89 [retained at the field station; tube cracked in the frost of 21st August].
• One Sikes’s Hydrometer, with brass weights and ivory scale of specific gravities, in mahogany case [lost with the punt].
• One 16-foot Sounding Pole of seasoned ash, shod with an 8-lb. octagonal iron shoe, graduated in feet and inches [broken short in the ice floe, 21st August 1858, after which soundings cease].
• One 10-fathom Hemp Sounding Line, with 7-lb. lead-sinker fitted with grease-hollow for arming.
• One Flat-bottomed Deal Punt (12 ft.), fitted with two rowlocks, spruce sculls, and iron drag-grapnel.

III. Reagents, Preservatives, and Mounting Media:

• Six ounces of pure Canada Balsam, dissolved in essential oil, in two ground-stoppered phials [exhausted October, Fol. 59].
• One quart of Rectified Spirits of Wine (60 o.p.).
• Four ounces of Glacial Acetic Acid; two ounces of Liquor Potassæ.
• Three gross of Best Crown-Glass Slides (3 in. × 1 in.), ground edges; one gross of Thin Glass Cover-Slips, square (Chance’s No. 1).
• Six dozen turned wooden pill-boxes; four packets of cartridge paper and white cedar mounting-shavings.

Folio IV — MASTER REGISTER OF STATION NO. 1

Topographical, Geological, and Hydrographic Register of Station No. 1

(the Submerged Intake), compiled at the Commencing of the Survey, May 1858.

1. Geographical Position:

Situate in the south-eastern quadrant of the Saltpan Depression, 1 mile 3 furlongs west-south-west of the Silt-Mouth Coastguard Station; bounded on the north by the Calcarenite Sill, on the east by the Quaternary Samphire-Flats, and terminating southward in the shingle spits of the Low Siltings. The depression measures upward of five furlongs in major diameter; Station No. 1 occupies the deep tidal gut in the south-eastern quarter thereof.

2. Permanent Hydrographic Datum (B.M. No. 1):

All vertical soundings and structural levels recorded in this ledger are referred strictly to the permanent Benchmark Datum (0· 00 ft.), being the Admiralty Broad Arrow (↑) cut into the vertical masonry face of the Old Western Sluice-Pier, 2· 00 ft. below the spring flood high-water mark of the Silt-Mouth estuary (which overtops the pier during full equinoctial surge).

• Level of Calcarenite Sill (outer floor of the depression): 4 ft. 6 in. below Datum.
• Level of Lip of the Submerged Fissure: 8 ft. 0 in. below Datum.
• Fixed Rock Floor of the Fissure-Throat: 12 ft. 4 in. below Datum.

Note upon the Soundings: The entries registered in this ledger as “Sounding” or “Depth” represent the plumb-line distance from Benchmark Datum down to the sediment floor of the chasm. The solid rock floor lies immovable at 12 ft. 4 in. below Datum, covered by a shifting sediment cushion of black calcarenite mud, gypsum sand, and selenite crystals (both fine needles and tabular plates) to a depth of three to six inches. The sounding-lead fetches up upon this loose bed, producing the slight variation registered between May and August (12 ft. 1 in. to 12 ft. 4 in.).

When the depression is filled by the spring tides to the estuary flood line, the total liquid column above the fissure bed is approximately fourteen feet (14 ft. 2 in. to 14 ft. 4 in.). With the summer closure of the sluice and subsequent evaporation, the surface water recedes beneath the calcarenite sill (4 ft. 6 in.) and the fissure lip (8 ft. 0 in.), until the liquid is confined to the four-foot-four throat itself (4 ft. 4 in.); the standing surface water wholly vanishes, the subterranean brine current alone persisting in the fissure until the final autumn desiccation. Soundings terminate on the 21st August (Folio 28), the sounding pole having been sheared off in the ice floe.

3. Geological Structure of the Fissure:

An open vertical chasm or fault-line in the indurated calcarenite floor, varying from eighteen inches to five feet in width, traversing the south-eastern quadrant of the basin for ninety yards from N.W. to S.E., where it terminates against the calcarenite ledge of the South Spit. The chasm discharges a constant subterranean current of dense, cold brine, maintaining an open throat even when the surface of the basin is bound with ice. Walls composed of indurated calcarenite stone; floor carpeted with black calcarenite mud, coarse gypsum gravel, and selenite crystals (both fine needles and tabular plates).

TABULA SYNOPTICA SPECIMINUM (Nos. 1–120)

Conspectus of the Survey of the Submerged Intake and Associated Saltpan Horizons, May–October 1858.

Gathering I: The Samphire Transect (Discrete Numerical Failures)

Folios 1–7; Formal copperplate hand; Indian ink; micrometer and dissecting trough.

Folio	No.	Taxon / Subject	Material Date	Organ / Character Observed	Value / Formula	Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Fol. 1	1	Salicornia aff. herbacea	2 May 1858	Spikes; fertile segments	6 pairs per spike	—	Type-baseline; normal decussate symmetry.
	2	Salicornia aff. herbacea	2 May 1858	Spikes; fertile segments	6 pairs (L), 7 pairs (R)	—	First unilateral segmentation drift.
Fol. 2	3	Salicornia aff. herbacea	3 May 1858	Central flowers per cyme	3 (L), 3 (R)	—	Type-baseline; normal ternate cyme.
	4	Salicornia aff. herbacea	3 May 1858	Flowers per cyme	3 (L), 4 (R)	—	Right lateral cyme quaternary.
	5	Salicornia aff. herbacea	4 May 1858	Flowers per cyme	4 (L), 5 (R)	—	Inflorescence failing ternary rule.
Fol. 3	6	Salicornia aff. herbacea	4 May 1858	Stamens per floret	1 (L), 2 (R)	—	Diandrous aberration on right cyme.
	7	Salicornia aff. herbacea	5 May 1858	Stamens per floret	2 (L), 2 (R)	—	Symmetrical diandry; atypical.
Fol. 4	8	Arthrocnemum sp.	5 May 1858	Segmental scales	2 opposite, connate	—	Type-baseline.
	9	Arthrocnemum sp.	6 May 1858	Segmental scales	3 connate (whorled)	—	Ternary node; spiral displacement.
Fol. 5	10	Arthrocnemum sp.	6 May 1858	Segmental scales	3 (L), 4 (R)	—	Asymmetrical nodal sheath.
	11	Salicornia aff. herbacea	7 May 1858	Seed-testa hairs	Uncinate, regular	—	Type-baseline; length 0· 04 mm.
Fol. 6	12	Salicornia aff. herbacea	7 May 1858	Seed-testa hairs	Spirally coiled; bifurcated	—	Apex 2-pronged; failure of hair type.
	13	Salicornia aff. herbacea	8 May 1858	Perianth segments	3 (L), 4 (R)	—	Apetalous perianth split unequal.
Fol. 7	14	Salicornia aff. herbacea	8 May 1858	Terminal spike	Completely fused cylinder	—	19 florets in unbroken spiral; nodes lost.

Gathering II: The Charophyte Horizon (Continuous Measurement Failures)

Folios 8–14; Rigorous formal hand; screw micrometer and chemical clearing agents.

Folio	No.	Taxon / Subject	Material Date	Organ / Character Observed	Value / Formula	Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Fol. 8	15	Chara aff. foetida	9 May 1858	Cortical tubes; spirality	12 tubes; angle 15°	—	Type-baseline; regular diplostichous cortex.
	16	Chara aff. foetida	9 May 1858	Cortical tubes	12 (L-turn), 14 (R-turn)	—	Asymmetrical cortical torsion.
Fol. 9	17	Chara aff. foetida	9 May 1858	Spiral inclination	Angle 18° → 24°	—	Torsion steepening over single internode.
	18	Chara aff. foetida	10 May 1858	Spine-cells	Paired; equal (0· 12 mm.)	—	Type-baseline; diplostichous fascicles.
Fol. 10	19	Chara aff. foetida	10 May 1858	Spine-cells	2 (L), 3 (R); unequal	—	Right spine 0· 28 mm., recurved.
	20	Tolypella sp.	10 May 1858	Branchlet rays	4 simple, lateral	—	Type-baseline anarthrodactylous.
Fol. 11	21	Tolypella sp.	10 May 1858	Branchlet rays	4 (L), 6 (R); lateral divided	—	Branchlet bifurcation irregular.
	22	Chara aff. foetida	11 May 1858	Bracteoles	4; anterior 0· 40 mm.	—	Type-baseline reproductive involucre.
Fol. 12	23	Chara aff. foetida	11 May 1858	Bracteoles	3 (L), 5 (R); 0· 18–0· 62 mm.	—	Involucre asymmetry complete.
	24	Nitella aff. flexilis	11 May 1858	Dactyl cells	2-celled; mucro acute	—	Type-baseline.
Fol. 13	25	Nitella aff. flexilis	11 May 1858	Dactyl cells	3-celled (L), 2-celled (R)	—	Joint-count discordance in dactyls.
	26	Chara aff. foetida	11 May 1858	Oospore striae	11 prominent ridges	—	Type-baseline calcified gyrogonite.
Fol. 14	27	Chara aff. foetida	11 May 1858	Oospore striae	9 (L-face), 14 (R-face)	—	Spiral gyrogonite crests mismatched.
	28	Chara aff. foetida	11 May 1858	Cortical tubes	23 tubes, unspiral, vertical	—	Complete failure of spiral growth; cortex fluted.

Intercalary Schedule: Box B (Upper Sill Entomostraca)

Schedula seorsim scripta; spirit preparations, non dissecta; littoral washings catalogued without dissection.

Schedule	Nos.	Taxon / Material	Material Date	Preparation / Method	Formula	Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Sched. B	29–48	Ostracoda & Calanoida	11 May 1858	Phials 29–48 in spirit; Box B	Bulk counts	— (no telson; carapaces entire)	Cyprideis, Candona, calanoid copepods of upper sill; series non dissecta.

Gathering III: The Submerged Intake (Progressive Asymmetry & Structural Collapse)

Folios 15–22; Dredge hauls from the fissure; copperplate contracting into formulaic shorthand; Box C to Box E.

Folio	No.	Taxon / Subject	Material Date	Formula (L / R for appendages; L + R for telson tally)	Telson Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Fol. 15	49	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	11 May 1858	Gn. 3/4; Tel. 2 + 3	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Lobes equal; type-baseline fissure fauna.
	50	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	11 May 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 3/3; Tel. 3 + 4	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Minute conical spur outermost on right.
	51	Attheyella? sed oculo carens	11 May 1858	P5: 4+5 / 5+4; Rami: 3 / 2	—	Left seta geniculate inward (88°–90°).
	52	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	11 May 1858	Non dissectum (4·0 mm.)	Bifid (intact)	Preserved entire in spirit tube No. 52-a.
Fol. 16	53	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	19 May 1858	Acc. 2/2; Gn. 3/4; Tel. 3 + 4	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	4th bristle in distinct socket lower on margin.
	54	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	19 May 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 4/4; Tel. 4 + 4	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Count equal; R bristles split by wide interval.
	55	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	19 May 1858	Gn. 4/5; Tel. 4 + 5	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	R lobe flabellate; 3rd bristle elongate.
Fol. 17	56	Attheyella? sed oculo carens	28 May 1858	P5: 5+4 / 4+5; Rami: 3 / 2	—	Left seta geniculate inward across cleft; confirmed.
	57	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	28 May 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 3/5; Tel. 4 + 6	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Left bristles apical; outer 2 on R in lateral notches.
	58	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	28 May 1858	Acc. 2/2; Gn. 4/5; Tel. 5 + 6	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Sockets on R confluent in transverse groove.
Fol. 18	59	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	4 June 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 4/6; Tel. 5 + 7	Bifid (cleft 1/4)	Progressive shallowing begins; 7th bristle dorsal.
	60	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	4 June 1858	Acc. 2/2; Gn. 5/5; Tel. 5 + 7	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Gnathopods symmetrical; telson divergent; gauge unequal.
Fol. 19	61	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	12 June 1858	Acc. 3/3; Gn. 5/6; Tel. 6 + 7	Bifid (cleft 1/3)	Basal crossing; inward margins of lobes overlap.
	62	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	12 June 1858	Acc. 4/2; Gn. 4/6; Tel. 6 + 7	Bifid (cleft 1/4)	4-joint ceiling on L; two dorsal insertions on R.
Fol. 20	63	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	20 June 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 5/7; Tel. 6 + 8	Bifid (cleft 1/4)	Armature wandering: 4 apical, 2 lateral, 2 dorsal on R.
	64	Attheyella? sed oculo carens	20 June 1858	P5: 4+5 / 5+4; Rami: 2 / 3	—	Full lateral inversion: R seta geniculate inward.
Fol. 21	65	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	29 June 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 6/6; Tel. 6 + 8	Bifid (cleft 1/4)	Left 4 ap., 2 dors.; right 5 ap., 1 lat., 2 dors.
	66	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	29 June 1858	Acc. 4/3; Gn. 6/7; Tel. 7 + 8	Bifid (cleft < 1/5)	Right lobe forms regular pectinate comb (0· 012–0· 014 mm.).
Fol. 22	67	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	8 July 1858	Acc. 3/2; Gn. 5/7; Tel. 5 + 8	Sub-entire (cleft 1/6)	R lobe flabellate, laid over dorsal face of L by half.
	68	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	8 July 1858	Acc. 4/2; Gn. 6/8; Tel. 6 + 9	Sub-entire (cleft 1/6)	Sinus almost obliterated; nominal lobe division; dorsal file.

Gathering IV: The Double-Digit Rupture & The Physical Tear

Folios 23–28; Hard frost and gale; ink contracting to telegraphic bone; Box F to Box G; marginal lead-pencil notes.

Folio	No.	Taxon / Subject	Material Date	Numerical Formula	Telson Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Fol. 23	69	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	15 July 1858	Pl. 11/14 ext., 9/10 int.; Tel. 6 + 9	Entire (sinus absent)	Unbroken convex margin; natatory setae diverge.
	70	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	15 July 1858	Gn. 7/9; Tel. 7 + 11	Entire (secondary cleft)	Double digits (11); wall breaks between lateral notches.
	71	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	15 July 1858	Acc. 3/3; Gn. 5/8; Tel. 7 + 10	Entire (plate uniform)	Margin devoid of notch; brood-pouch with 2 dead ova.
Fol. 24	72	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	23 July 1858	A1: 17/23 joints; Tel. 8 + 13	Entire (disk field)	Six-joint gap in head; breadth 0· 39 mm.
	73	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	23 July 1858	A1: 16/19 joints; Tel. 8 + 12	Entire (undivided)	Breadth 0· 32 mm.; three-joint antennal gap.
	74	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	23 July 1858	A1: 18/21 joints; Tel. 8 + 13	Entire (open field)	Breadth 0· 36 mm.; dorsal insertions form 2 rows.
Fol. 25	75	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	31 July 1858	A1: 17/24 joints; Tel. 8 + 16	Entire (comb dead)	Breadth 0· 41 mm.; intervals scatter 0· 007–0· 024 mm.
	76	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	31 July 1858	Pl. 13/17 ext., 9/12 int.; Tel. 9 + 17	Entire (tiered)	Breadth 0· 35 mm.; dense packing in 3 irregular tiers.
	77	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	31 July 1858	A1: 19/25 joints; Tel. 9 + 18	Entire (brush-like)	Breadth 0· 44 mm. (max.); margins thickened, ragged.
Fol. 26	78	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	7 August 1858	A1: 18/26 joints; Tel. 9 + 21	Entire (undivided)	Breadth 0· 43 mm.; pencil: an sp. nova distinctissima?
	79	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	7 August 1858	Gn. 9/15; Tel. 8 + 22	Entire (lateral chink)	Sockets confluent for 0· 18 mm.; pencil in English.
Fol. 27	80	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	14 August 1858	A1: 20/28 joints; Tel. 10 + 23	Entire (hyper-growth)	Breadth 0· 46 mm.; 4 bifurcate hooks in middle tier.
	81	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	14 August 1858	Pl. 15/20 ext., 11/14 int.; Tel. 9 + 24	Entire (hairline seam)	Bare median strip 0· 025 mm.; linea media nuda.
Fol. 28	82	Amphipod aff. Niphargus	21 August 1858	A1: 19/27 joints; Tel. 10 + 25	Bridged / Indivisible	Seam breached: 2 bristles cross axis, root on left.
	83	Amphipod aff. Niphargus Gen. nov.? aff. Gammaro…	21 August 1858	A1: 19/31 joints; Tel. 9 + 26	Bridged / Indivisible	Breadth 0· 48 mm.; traverse cuts off at Seta 9:; journal torn.

Lacuna: Folios 29–57 Desunt

Schedarum fasciculus e filo laceratus; catalogi numeri 84–112 interciderunt.

Gatherings V–VI: The Salt Crust Resumption & Terminal Descent

Folios 58–61; Lead pencil throughout; ivory rule and needle-point; preparations unmounted on card; basin dry.

Folio	No.	Taxon / Subject	Material Date	Tripartite Formula (L + ax. + R)	Telson Plate State	Diagnostic Note
Fol. 58	113	Animal.	October? 1858	Tel. 11 + 0 + 29 (R: 10 mar., 7 lat., 12 dor.)	Undivided (bare track)	Resumption post-lacuna; median track bare; limbs calcified.
Fol. 59	114	Animal.	October? 1858	Tel. 12 + 2 + 33 (R: 9 mar., 8 lat., 16 dor.)	Undivided (axial start)	Balsam exhausted; dry pill-box; 5 bifurcate, 2 uncinate.
	115	Animal.	October? 1858	Tel. 12 + 7 + 36 (R: 10 mar., 9 lat., 17 dor.)	Undivided (median crest)	Sockets fused in continuous crust; counted by emergent tips.
Fol. 60	116	Animal.	October? 1858	Tel. 13 + 14 + 41 (R: 11 mar., 11 lat., 19 dor.)	Undivided (axial keel)	Axial crest (14) passes frozen left (13); salt on living beasts.
	117	Animal.	October? 1858	Tel. 13 + 16 + 44 (R: 12 mar., 12 lat., 20 dor.)	Undivided (double ridge)	Walking series lost; axis double-ridged; 2 forks on crest.
Fol. 61	118	Animal.	late October? 1858	Tel. 13 + 19 + 49 (R: 13 mar., 14 lat., 22 dor.)	Undivided (serrated keel)	Total 81; shield fused; antennae stumps 3/3; on selenite wafer.
	119	Animal.	late October? 1858	Tel. 14 + 22 + 54	Fused Pavement	Total 90; left final twitch (14); borders vanished beneath spines.
	120	Animal.	late October? 1858	Body 7·— (incomplete)	—	Lead fails; bare cedar gouge; journal ends; two quires blank.

Folio 26

Station No. 1 — 7th August 1858.

Bar. 30.92 in. Ther. min. 4°. Ice 8 in.; aperture cut with pick. Sounding 12 ft. 1 in. Dredge: two amphipods, black mud.

Specimen No. 78. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. Adult male; 5·8 mm.

• Antenna 1: flag. prim. 18 joints (L), 26 joints (R); acc. flag. 4 (L), 2 (R).
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 8 (L), 14 (R).
• Pleopod 1: outer ramus 14 setae (L), 18 setae (R); inner ramus 10 setae (L), 13 setae (R).
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·43 mm. Left group 9 bristles (4 apical, 3 lateral, 2 dorsal). Right group 21 bristles (9 + 21): seven apical, six lateral, eight dorsal. The dorsal bristles disposed without order across the posterior half of the right disk.

[In marg. plumbeo: an sp. nova distinctissima? sed forma corporis eadem]

Specimen No. 79. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. Adult female; 5·2 mm. Brood-plates rudimentary, simple.

• Antenna 1: flag. prim. 17 joints (L), 23 joints (R); acc. flag. 3 (L), 2 (R).
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 9 (L), 15 (R).
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·38 mm. Left group 8 bristles; right group 22 bristles (8 + 22). Sockets on right confluent along lateral margin for 0·18 mm., forming a continuous open chink discharging nine crowded setae.

[In marg. plumbeo: margo dexter fissus — the two sides no longer agree, which is the species?]

Specimens: — Dissections of Nos. 78 and 79, in balsam, Box G; mud sample, No. 79-a.

Folio 27

Station No. 1 — 14th August 1858.

Bar. 30.96 in. Ther. min. 2°. Ice 9 in., sounding hole choked with crystalline rime. Depth 12 ft. 2 in. Dredge: two amphipods, selenite needles.

Specimen No. 80. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. Adult male; 6·0 mm.

• Antenna 1: flag. prim. 20 joints (L), 28 joints (R); acc. flag. 4 (L), 2 (R).
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 9 (L), 16 (R).
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·46 mm., enlarging out of proportion to the body (which has advanced but one-tenth in length while the plate has near doubled). Left group 10 bristles (5 apical, 3 lateral, 2 dorsal). Right group 23 bristles (10 + 23): six apical, seven lateral, ten dorsal. Sockets crowded across the right quadrant; four bristles in the middle tier of the right dorsal field bifurcated at the tip under the quarter-inch lens, each splitting into two divergent curved hooks.

[In marg. plumbeo: setae split like fish-hooks — where does the chitine end?]

Specimen No. 81. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. Adult female; 5·4 mm.

• Antenna 1: flag. prim. 18 joints (L), 25 joints (R); acc. flag. 3 (L), 2 (R).
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 8 (L), 15 (R).
• Pleopod 1: outer ramus 15 setae (L), 20 setae (R); inner ramus 11 setae (L), 14 setae (R).
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·40 mm. Left group 9 bristles; right group 24 bristles (9 + 24). The right margin carrying a dense palisade of 13 bristles, dorsal disk bearing 11. Left and right groups separated by an unpunctured median strip barely 0·025 mm. wide.

[In marg. plumbeo: linea media nuda — a hairline only, but it holds]

Specimens: — Dissections of Nos. 80 and 81, in balsam, Box G; selenite needles, No. 81-a.

Folio 28

Station No. 1 — 21st August 1858.

Bar. 31·04 in. Ther. min. −3°. Gale SSW; salt-drift blinding. Punt frozen fast; sounding pole abandoned in the ice, broken short by the heave of the floe. Aperture cleared with difficulty through ten inches of brine-ice. Water 49°; Sp. gr. 1·062. Dredge hauled once: two amphipods, coarse frozen mud.

Specimen No. 82. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. Adult female; 5·6 mm.

• Antenna 1: flag. prim. 19 (L), 27 (R); acc. flag. 4 (L), 2 (R).
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 9 (L), 17 (R).
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·44 mm. Left group 10 bristles. Right group 25 bristles (10 + 25). The bare median strip observed on the 14th inst. is no longer continuous: at mid-length two bristles of the right dorsal tier cross the longitudinal axis by 0·02 mm., rooting distinctly upon the surface of the left disk; the median seam is broken through, the plate bridged and indivisible.

[In marg. plumbeo: the seam has given way]

Specimen No. 83. — Amphipod aff. Niphargus. [supra: Gen. nov.? aff. Gammaro…]

Adult male; 6·2 mm. Integument heavily encrusted with crystalline carbonate; pleon rigid, opaque.

• Antenna 1: primary flagellum 19 joints (L), 31 joints (R); accessory flagellum 5-jointed (L), 2-jointed (R). The fifth joint on the left minute, nodular, carrying three apical setae.
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 10 (L), 19 (R).
• Telson: plate completely undivided, breadth 0·48 mm. Left group 9 bristles, marginal and sub-marginal. Right group 26 bristles (9 + 26).

The right half of the plate is wholly covered by an irregular, brush-like thicket of spines: eleven seated along the thickened, ragged margin; fifteen distributed across the dorsal disk from the median line to the outer flank in four unaligned tiers. Spines of four distinct gauges, from 0· 009 to 0· 034 mm.; six in the third tier bifurcated into recurved hooks; three seated upon the median axis itself.

Traverse across the right dorsal field under the stage micrometer, measuring distance from the median line to the base of successive insertions in the third tier:

• Seta 1 (middle of the three axial insertions): 0· 000 mm.
• Seta 2: 0· 014 mm.
• Seta 3: 0· 031 mm.
• Seta 4: 0· 039 mm.
• Seta 5: 0· 062 mm.
• Seta 6 (bifurcate): 0· 078 mm.
• Seta 7: 0· 094 mm.
• Seta 8: 0· 118 mm.
• Seta 9:

[Foliorum 29–57 jactura: schedarum fasciculus e filo laceratus; catalogi numeri 84–112 interciderunt. Folium 58 primum est post lacunam; stilo plumbeo exaratum, scriptura minuta, deformata, lineis marginum deletis.]

Folio 58

Station No. 1 (the South Spit) — October? 1858 (the reckoning of days lost with the torn leaves).

Thermometer tube cracked in the hard frost of August, the mercury escaped into the case; barometer cistern dry. Wind NW, light, warm; salt-crust softened to grey grease. Water at the spit margin 58° by estimate, shallow and sun-warmed; hydrometer lost with the punt.

Specimen No. 113. — Animal.

6·4 mm. Integument chalky, encrusted with lime.

• Antenna 1: left 18 joints; right 34 joints.
• Peraeopods with basal joints thickened, the articulations immobile, calcified.
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·51 mm.
• Left group: 11 spines.
• Axial line: 0 spines (bare median track).
• Right group: 29 spines (11 + 0 + 29): ten marginal, seven lateral, twelve set upon the dorsal disk.
• Spines irregular in length and gauge; three bifurcated.

Folio 59

Station No. 1 (the South Spit) — October? 1858.

Wind W, moderate, drying; the spit crust glistening with dry efflorescence. Water at the margins receding, dense, viscous to the hand. Gathered by wading along the calcarenite ledge: two specimens alive, three dead in the salt drift; the three dead, shrivelled, not described.

Specimen No. 114. — Animal.

6·6 mm. Body chalk-white, rigid; walking legs curled beneath the sternum.

• Antenna 1: left 19 joints; right 36 joints.
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·53 mm.
• Left group: 12 spines (all marginal).
• Axial line: 2 spines, seated along the former suture.
• Right group: 33 spines (12 + 2 + 33): nine marginal, eight lateral, sixteen set upon the dorsal disk in five irregular tiers.
• Form of spines: among them seven irregular forms—five split at the apex into two divergent prongs (bifurcate); two simple, unbranched, the shafts bent into rigid claws (uncinate).

The bottle of Canada balsam is exhausted, the remnant dried to a yellow resin about the cork. Preparations in cell are abandoned. Specimen No. 114 dried upon card in paper pill-box; the armature examined by oblique sunlight with the hand-lens, without clearing.

Specimen No. 115. — Animal.

6·8 mm. Integument thick with carbonate.

• Antenna 1: left 18 joints; right 37 joints.
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 11 left, 21 right.
• Telson: breadth 0·55 mm.
• Left group: 12 spines (all marginal).
• Axial line: 7 spines, forming an irregular median crest down the center of the plate.
• Right group: 36 spines (12 + 7 + 36): ten marginal, nine lateral, seventeen dorsal; counted by the emergent tips, the sockets themselves fused in a continuous crust along the margin without discrete intervals.

Specimens: — The dried crusts on card in pill-boxes, Nos. 114 and 115.

Folio 60

Station No. 1 (the South Spit) — October? 1858.

Wind SW, light, drying; salt crust cracking underfoot with the sound of breaking potsherds. The last pools, dense to saturation, crusting at the rims with cubic hopper-crystals. Water warm, oily; living animals taken from beneath the salt crust with a horn spoon, halite encrusting their dorsal segments in solid plates before they can moult. Waded twice. Yield: two living examples, carried dry in pocket-boxes.

Measurements taken with the dividers against the ivory pocket-rule; the stage micrometer broken with the punt timbers; armature counted by the tips with needle and hand-lens in direct sunlight.

Specimen No. 116. — Animal.

Body 6·7 mm. (near 3 lines). Carapace covered by a crust of salt crystals; eye-spots, if ever present, wholly effaced beneath the carbonate crust.

• Antenna 1: left 19 joints; right 39 joints.
• Gnathopod 2: palm spines 12 left, 23 right.
• Telson: breadth 0·56 mm. (dividers).
• Left group: 13 spines, marginal.
• Axial line: 14 spines, forming an elevated, crowded crest down the center of the plate, exceeding the count of the left flank.
• Right group: 41 spines (13 + 14 + 41): eleven marginal, eleven lateral, nineteen dorsal. Spines of varying stature, five bifurcate, three uncinate; among the nineteen dorsal, four are small subsidiary tips emerging directly from the thickened bases of the larger spines.

Specimen No. 117. — Animal.

Body 7·0 mm. Rigid, chalky; legs broken off short in the salt crust, the ambulatory series lost entirely.

• Antenna 1: left 18 joints; right 41 joints.
• Telson: breadth 0·58 mm.
• Left group: 13 spines, marginal.
• Axial line: 16 spines, forming a double uniserial ridge along the suture, crowded; three hooked forward toward the body, two split at the tip into blunt, divergent forks.
• Right group: 44 spines (13 + 16 + 44): twelve marginal, twelve lateral, twenty dorsal. Emergent tips crowded into a dense thicket; whole right half of the disk opaque, covered with fused socket-crust.

The central line has passed the left margin. The suture, which in May was an empty cleft and in July an unpunctured strip, has raised a double ridge of sixteen spines, while the left flank stands held at thirteen, having gained but a single bristle since the spit gathering.

Specimens: — The dried animals on card, Nos. 116 and 117, wrapped in tea-paper.

Folio 61

Station No. 1 (the Red Clay Bank) — late October? 1858.

Basin dry. The last pools evaporated to a floor of blinding white halite, dusted with red gypsum flour that rises in the wind like brick-dust. Water wholly wanting; the bottom crust three inches thick, ringing dull under the boot. Animals taken dead, pried out of the underside of the salt plates where they crawled into the moist silt to die.

Pencil worn to a splinter of cedar; the graphite loose in the wood.

Specimen No. 118. — Animal.

Body 7·2 mm. Dead; dried flat upon a wafer of selenite.

• Cephalon and first two thoracic segments fused into a continuous, unjointed shield, crusted with lime.
• Antenna 1: stumps only; flagella sheared at the third joint on both sides (3 / 3), the long counts gone.
• Telson: plate undivided, breadth 0·59 mm.
• Left group: 13 spines, marginal, simple.
• Axial line: 19 spines (13 + 19 + 49 = 81). The ridge traces the full length of the suture, but the spines are crowded into a dense, serrated thicket along its middle third, leaving the extremities bare; five bifurcations, three uncinate hooks turned toward the anterior border.
• Right group: 49 spines: thirteen marginal, fourteen lateral, twenty-two dorsal.

Specimen No. 119. — Animal.

Body 7·4 mm. Rigid, calcified; walking limbs, pleopods, and antennae reduced to broken stumps encased in cubic salt. Cephalon, thorax, and pleon fused into a single oblong casing without visible sutures.

• Telson: plate breadth 0·61 mm.
• Left group: 14 spines. The margin, frozen since the first days of October, stirs by a single bristle, its final expenditure of tissue.
• Axial line: 22 spines.
• Right group: 54 spines.
• Formula: 14 + 22 + 54 (aggregate 90 tips, tallied under the hand-lens by the needle-point, tip by tip, across two sittings in the glare of the noon bank, until the eye ran with water).

The three terms are preserved only for the ledger. On the right side of the plate, the crest and the lateral field have run together; the axial ridge is no longer bordered by a bare channel, but merges into an unbroken pavement of spines, hooks, and bifurcated tips covering two-thirds of the dorsal surface. The divisions are kept by habit alone; on the specimen itself, no line remains between the center and the flank.

Specimen No. 120. — Animal.

Body 7·—

(the cedar scrapes an unpigmented gouge through the stroke)

[Schedarum fasciculi duo sequentes vacui manent.]

Folio V — INDEX CAPSULARUM ET SCRINIARII

Catalogue of Specimen Boxes, Glass Slips, and Enclosures deposited in the Cabinet of the Commission, or missing in the Field; audited at the Session-House, Silt-Mouth, November 1858.

CABINET OF THE COMMISSION: MAHOGANY CASE “A” (TWELVE DRAWERS).

Audited by the Revd. J. Crane, M.A., F.L.S., Curator of the Collections.

Drawer / Shelf	Receptacle / Mark	Specimen Numbers	Mode of Preparation	Condition on Audit (Nov. 1858)	Remarks & Collator’s Notes
Drawer 1	Box A (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 1–14 (Gathering I)	Crown-glass slips (3× 1 in.); Canada balsam in cell; ringed with asphaltum.	Intact; balsam clear; labels in ink by A. P. C.	Floral preparations: Salicornia & Arthrocnemum. Nodes, cymes, seed-testa hairs. Fully certified.
Drawer 2	Box B-1 (Pine slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 15–28 (Gathering II)	Glass slips; mounted in fluid cell (dilute spirit and camphor) under thin glass covers.	Intact; cell walls tight; rings intact.	Algoid preparations: Chara, Tolypella, Nitella. Cortical tubes, spine fascicles, gyrogonites.
Drawer 3	Box B-2 (Deal phial-case, partitioned for 24)	Nos. 29–48 (Intercalary Schedule)	Glass phials (2-drachm) in spirits of wine (60 o.p.); corked and tied over with bladder.	Intact; spirit clear; specimens unmounted.	Upper Sill washings: Ostracoda and littoral Calanoida. Uncut series non dissecta per Art. 4 exception.
Drawer 4	Box C (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 49–55 (Gathering III, pars 1)	Balsam mounts; parts dissected on single slips; cell covers square.	Intact; slight clouding of balsam at margins.	Deep Fissure hauls: Amphipod aff. Niphargus and blind copepods. No. 52 preserved entire in spirit phial 52-a.
Drawer 5	Box D (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 56–64 (Gathering III, pars 2)	Balsam mounts on glass; dissections of appendages; opaque paper covers.	Intact; mounts sound.	First telson shallowing; caudal rami reversals. Dissections detailed and clear.
Drawer 6	Box E (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 65–68 (Gathering III, pars 3)	Balsam mounts on glass; telson plates isolated under Chance’s No. 1 slips.	Intact; covers secure.	Terminal gathering of the open lead: pectinate comb (No. 66), overfold (No. 67), dorsal file (No. 68).
Drawer 7	Box F (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 69–77 (Gathering IV, pars 1)	Balsam mounts; mounts thick, coarse; covers pressed without cell-walls.	Balsam yellowed; air-bubbles; two slides fractured across corner.	Winter freeze hauls: first double-digit lobes; primary flagellar divergence; comb collapse under micrometer.
Drawer 8	Box G (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 78–81 (Gathering IV, pars 2)	Balsam mounts; thick, unringed; labels in pencil on paper slips.	Slides greasy with salt-fog; mounts opaque; cover of No. 80 cracked over telson.	Final mounted dissections: confluent chinks; bifurcated middle-tier hooks (No. 80); hairline median strip (No. 81).
—	Box H (Deal slide-box, grooved for 24)	Nos. 82–83 (Terminal freeze)	Presumed balsam preparations; incomplete at the floe.	DEPERDITA.	Box and preparations lost in the floe concurrently with the torn leaves of Folio 28. Never recovered.
—	[Capsula Lacunæ] (Interstitium)	Nos. 84–112 (Lacuna)	Unaccessioned.	NON COMPARAT.	Never accessioned into the cabinets; the corresponding leaves of the journal (Folios 29–57) with them wanting.
Drawer 9	Box I (Cardboard sorting tray)	Nos. 113–115 (Gathering V)	Unmounted: dried crusts affixed with gum to cedar shavings in turned pill-boxes.	Boxes crushed; gum dry; specimens detached and loose among shavings.	Resumption post-lacuna. Balsam exhausted. Dissections abandoned. Armature opaque, calcified.
Drawer 10	Box K (Tin dispatch-canister)	Nos. 116–117 (Gathering VI, pars 1)	Dried animals on card, wrapped in oiled tea-paper; unmounted.	Salt efflorescence breaking out through paper; limbs fragmented.	South Spit: axial crest passing left margin (13 + 14 + 41 and 13 + 16 + 44). Ambulatory series broken off in crust.
Drawer 11	Box L (Lacquered tin box)	Nos. 118–119 (Gathering VI, pars 2)	No. 118 dried upon a wafer of selenite in tea-paper; No. 119 on card in cotton-wool.	No. 118 intact, selenite split; No. 119 reduced to chalky fragments and loose salt-crusts.	Red Clay Bank: fused unjointed shields. Terminal counts (81 and 90). Borders lost under spine-pavement.
Drawer 12	—	[No. 120]	Unprepared.	VACUA.	Drawer empty, reserved for the uncompleted specimen of Folio 61. No material deposited.

Curatorial Endorsement & Closing Docket

I have examined the twelve drawers above scheduled, deposited at the

Session-House by the carrier from Silt-Mouth on the 3rd November 1858,

accompanied by the mutilated Field Ledger.

The consignment was gathered from the deserted field hut upon the calcarenite

ledge by the Coastguard boat’s crew on the 30th October, and conveyed hither

without the Surveyor, the deposit itself being some five weeks past the

statutory audit appointed for Michaelmas.

The series of halophytes and algæ (Boxes A and B-1) are preserved in

accordance with the instructions of the Commission, and reflect credit

upon the Surveyor’s early diligence. The spirit preparations in Box B-2

likewise satisfy the conditions of the fourth article.

Of the crustacea, the slide-series terminates abruptly with Box G (No. 81).

Box H was abandoned in the floe; the entire series from 84 to 112 was never

accessioned, the leaves of the journal from 29 to 57 with them wanting.

The objects contained in the later receptacles (Boxes I, K, and L), retrieved

loose from the hut, are no true microscopic preparations, but shapeless

encrustations of carbonate of lime and salt, from which all regular anatomical

structure has perished. They are unfit for systematic classification or

cabinet display.

The ledger terminates abruptly in mid-sentence at folio 61; the surveyor

has not appeared to answer his audit.

(Signed)
JULIAN CRANE, M.A., F.L.S.
Curator to the Commission.
12th November 1858.