F. GEOGRAPHY. 205 



ing been torn from some attachment. An account has already 

 been given of the nest of the fish Chiro?iectes, built of gulf- 

 weed, and obtained during this voyage. 



The first port, St. Thomas, was reached on the loth of De- 

 cember. Here were made very large collections of both ma- 

 rine and land animals fish, corals, sea-urchins, star-fishes and 

 ophiurans, crustaceans, shells, lizards, snakes, toads and frogs, 

 insects and birds. From this port alone were shipped eleven 

 barrels and boxes of specimens. The next collecting ground 

 was Barbadoes, where the first casts of the dredge were 

 made, and with remarkable success. The collections forward- 

 ed from this port were not so large, but were, perhaps, more 

 interesting than those of St. Thomas. The fauna upon the 

 shoals off the islands of Barbadoes strangely resembled that 

 of a past geological time. The Comatuke, pedunculated Cri- 

 noids, Pleurotomariw, Syphonice-, and Cnemidice found upon 

 these shoals recalled forms which belonged especially to the 

 mezozoic ages. This dredging was also rich in corals, sea-ur- 

 chins, star-fishes, and ophiurans, and in a great variety of beau- 

 tiful and rare shells. In some notes of Count Pourtales, he 

 says of this same dredging: "December 29th and 30th, off 

 Barbadoes, about six miles north of Bridgetown, numerous 

 casts of the dredge were taken in depths varying from 17 to 

 120 fathoms, with very rich returns in mollusks, crustaceans, 

 echinoderms, polyps, and sponges. Many of them were new 

 to science, others either very rare or of much interest on ac- 

 count of their geographical distribution. Pleurotomaria is 

 an example of the former, Asthenosoma, Heraiopyhorus, lihizo- 

 crinas, and other echinoderms, of the latter. Deep-sea corals 

 were obtained in considerable quantity, but none appear to 

 be identical with those of the North Atlantic ; they seem also 

 to differ more from those of Florida than would have been 

 expected." 



Between Barbadoes and Brazil there was little opportunity 

 for observation, except upon the motions of the flying-fish, 

 the habits and appearance of the Physalia, etc. But at about 

 a day's sail south of Pernambuco an interesting dredging in 

 500 fathoms was made, from which was obtained, besides 

 other specimens, a living shell closely allied to the Pecten 

 jxiradoxus, as described by Goldfuss. Another cast about 

 45 miles east of Cape Frio, in 45 fathoms, gave a new crus- 



