hIETIIOUS OF SAIMPLINU THE NENTHOS
173
of the iiifauiia are often soft-bodied, relying on their burrowing habits
to protoct them from prchdatorA. They form the chief food of many
bottom-feeding fish.
While the assemblages of benthic animals are sometimes described
as communities, they do not form an independent self-sufficient
entity but are rather a part of the food-chain involving the whole
water column. I n this, their rijle, from an economic standpoint, is to
convert detritus and small planktonic and bottom-living organisms
into fish food.
111. THE HISTORY OF BENTHOS INVESTIUATIONS
Tho early history of investigation of tho sea floor by dredging
has been well chronicled by suvh writer8 a8 Wyvilie Thomson (Thomson, 1873), Herdman (1923), Yonge (1944, 1948), Allee et al. (1949) and
Hcdgpeth (1957).
The early “ naturalist’s dredge ” was a modification of the commcwisl fishermnn’s oyster dredge (Fig. l ) , and was first used for
scirntific purposes by the Italians Marsigli and Donati about 1750
and later by the Dane 0. F. Muller (1779). A drawing of the foursided dredge used by Muller is shown in Fig. 2. Some years later, in
the 1830’s, investigations of the benthos by means of dredges were
started by H. Milne-Edwards in France, Michael Sars in Norway,
and by Edward Forbes in Great Britain. There followed in this
country extensive investigations of the shallow seas by Forbes, Carpenter, and their associates, and it was due no doubt to the impetus
of their work that the famous Challenger expedition of 1872-76, under
the leadership of Sir Wyville Thornson, to investigate the fauna and
conditions of life in the deep oceans, was launched.
Naturally these early dredgings were mainly for the purpose of
collecting and describing new species, but Edward Forbes’s I ‘ Natural
History of the European Seas ” (Forbes, 1859) must rank as one of the
first works on marine ecology anti biogeography.
The dredges employed in the last century were intended to skim
the surface of the bottom, collecting the rich and varied members of the
epifauna, uncontaminated so far as possible with the deposit. There
was a certain reluctance to investigate the apparently sparser members
of the burrowing fauna, as is evident from some remarks of Thornson
(1873, p. 265): “ I n many instances we have had evidence that the
dredge, instead of falling gently upon the surface and then gliding
along and gathering the loose things in its path, has fallen upon its
mouth and dug into the tenacious mud, thereby clogging itself so aa to
admit but little more.”
173
of the iiifauiia are often soft-bodied, relying on their burrowing habits
to protoct them from prchdatorA. They form the chief food of many
bottom-feeding fish.
While the assemblages of benthic animals are sometimes described
as communities, they do not form an independent self-sufficient
entity but are rather a part of the food-chain involving the whole
water column. I n this, their rijle, from an economic standpoint, is to
convert detritus and small planktonic and bottom-living organisms
into fish food.
111. THE HISTORY OF BENTHOS INVESTIUATIONS
Tho early history of investigation of tho sea floor by dredging
has been well chronicled by suvh writer8 a8 Wyvilie Thomson (Thomson, 1873), Herdman (1923), Yonge (1944, 1948), Allee et al. (1949) and
Hcdgpeth (1957).
The early “ naturalist’s dredge ” was a modification of the commcwisl fishermnn’s oyster dredge (Fig. l ) , and was first used for
scirntific purposes by the Italians Marsigli and Donati about 1750
and later by the Dane 0. F. Muller (1779). A drawing of the foursided dredge used by Muller is shown in Fig. 2. Some years later, in
the 1830’s, investigations of the benthos by means of dredges were
started by H. Milne-Edwards in France, Michael Sars in Norway,
and by Edward Forbes in Great Britain. There followed in this
country extensive investigations of the shallow seas by Forbes, Carpenter, and their associates, and it was due no doubt to the impetus
of their work that the famous Challenger expedition of 1872-76, under
the leadership of Sir Wyville Thornson, to investigate the fauna and
conditions of life in the deep oceans, was launched.
Naturally these early dredgings were mainly for the purpose of
collecting and describing new species, but Edward Forbes’s I ‘ Natural
History of the European Seas ” (Forbes, 1859) must rank as one of the
first works on marine ecology anti biogeography.
The dredges employed in the last century were intended to skim
the surface of the bottom, collecting the rich and varied members of the
epifauna, uncontaminated so far as possible with the deposit. There
was a certain reluctance to investigate the apparently sparser members
of the burrowing fauna, as is evident from some remarks of Thornson
(1873, p. 265): “ I n many instances we have had evidence that the
dredge, instead of falling gently upon the surface and then gliding
along and gathering the loose things in its path, has fallen upon its
mouth and dug into the tenacious mud, thereby clogging itself so aa to
admit but little more.”