72 THE NAUTILUS. 



channel buoy, cross the reef and put to sea for a few hauls on the 

 edge of the Gulf Stream. Weather fine, sea smooth ... 3d haul 

 in 110 fathoms on a rocky rough bottom made even more difficult to 

 negotiate by the strength of the current. We are now fairly on the 

 ' Pourtales Plateau,' that narrow strip of sea-bottom which is pure 

 gold in our imaginations. Possibly we expect too much from this 

 happy hunting ground of Pourtales, for whatever may be its reputed 

 treasures they are certainly well protected by the nature of their 

 surroundings. This haul, made with great difficulty, brings up some 

 fine brachiopods, some very beautiful Marginellas, and Eureka! 

 Valuta dohrni. 1 arn sure Clark will appreciate the wonderful 

 yellow sea-urchins. . . ." 



"April 22, 1910. . . . What a day this has been on Sand Key 

 Reef. Were it not that the keen edge of our excitement has been 

 dulled by a day on Loue Key Reef I am sure some of us would have 

 become ' dippy.' As it is, our conduct to any chance observer might 

 have raised suspicions. We danced and sang and called to each 

 other in our eagerness to exhibit new things discovered. We must 

 all drop everything and go over there to see the beautiful calico- 

 patterned orange-colored mantle of Utiimus gibbosus, or all must 

 hurry over here to see this octopus before he succeeds in wholly 

 effacing himself. We fairly reveled in Cypraea, Conus (especially 

 very fine C. nebulosus), Mitra, Pisania, Pecten, ColumbeUa, Margi- 

 nella, GalUostonia, Turbo* Purpura, Latirus, Phos, Tritom'dea, Lima, 

 Avicula, Lithodomus, etc., etc. . . . Blow, blow, blow, will it ever 

 stop blowing so we may go to work outside again ? We pick over 

 siftings for hours until our eyes rebel against the strain. The 

 amount of small and minute stuff is astonishingly great in the sift- 

 ings. So much of this escapes detection when the material is wet. 

 A most gratifying number of species of Drillia, Mangilia^ and other 

 Pleurotomids turn up this way. Especially noteworthy are the 

 pretty Ancistrocyrinx radiata and Niso interrupta, both of which 

 have a Chinese or Japanese appearance. Numbers of Pyramidellids 

 are appearing in the pickings. We all like these graceful highly- 

 sculptured little shells; the crew call them ' peakers.' I hope 

 Bartsch will not get too much discouraged when he sees them. 

 There are so many little bivalves that I have never seen before, and 

 indeed many Gasteropods of genera wholly unknown to me. . . ." 



( To be continued.^) 



