704 LOUIS AGASSIZ. 



hauls, in between seventy-five and one hun- 

 dred and twenty fathoms. But what hauls ! 

 Enough to occupy half a dozen competent zo- 

 ologists for a whole year, if the specimens 

 could be kept fresh for that length of time. 

 The first haul brought up a Cheniidium-like 

 sponge ; the next gave us a crinoid, very much 

 like the Rhizocrinus lofotensis, but probably 

 different ; the third, a living Pleurotomaria ; 

 the fourth, a new genus of Spatangoids, etc., 

 etc., not to speak of the small fry. We had 

 the crinoid alive for ten or twelve hours. 

 When contracted, the pinnules are pressed 

 against the arms, and the arms themselves 

 shut against one another, so that the whole 

 looks like a swash made up of a few long, 

 coarse twines. When the animal opens, the 

 arms at first separate without bending outside, 

 so that the whole looks like an inverted pen- 

 tapod ; but gradually the tips of the arms 

 bend outward as the arms diverge more and 

 more, and when fully expanded the crown has 

 the appearance of a lily of the L. martagon 

 type, in which each petal is curved upon it- 

 self, the pinnules of the arms spreading later- 

 ally more and more, as the crown is more 

 fully open. I have not been able to detect 

 any motion in the stem traceable to contrac- 



