MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 187 



of decomposed vegetable matter as we found on this expedition. There 

 was hardly a haul taken which did not supply a large quantity of water 

 logged wood, and more or less fresh twigs, leaves, seeds, and fruits, in all 

 possible stages of decomposition. This was especially noteworthy in the 

 line from the mainland to Cocos Island, and certainly offers a very 

 practical object lesson regarding the manner in which that island must 

 have received its vegetable products. It is only about 275 miles from 

 the mainland, and its flora, so similar to that of the adjacent coast, tells 

 its own story. Malpelo, on the contrary, which is an inaccessible rock 

 with vertical sides, and destitute of any soil formed from the disinte- 

 gration of the rocks, has remained comparatively barren, in spite of its 

 closer proximity to the mainland. 



The most interesting things we have found up to this time are repre- 

 sentatives of the Ceratias group of Fishes, which the naturalists of the 

 " Albati'oss " tell me they have not met befoi'e on the w r est coast of 

 North America. The Crustacea have supplied us with a most remark- 

 able type of the Willemoesia group. The paucity of Afollusks and 

 also of Echini is most striking, although we brought up in one of the 

 hauls numerous fragments of what must have been a gigantic species of 

 Cystechinus, which I hope I may reconstruct. We were also fortunate 

 enough to hud a single specimen of Calamocrinus off Morro Puercos, in 

 700 fathoms, a part of the stem with the base, showing its mode of at- 

 tachment to be similar to that of the fossil Apioerinidae. The number 

 of Ophiurans was remarkably small as compai-ed with the fauna of deep 

 waters on the Atlantic side, where it often seems as if Ophiurans had 

 been the first and only objects created. The absence of deep-sea corals 

 is also quite striking. They play so important a part in the fauna of 

 the deeper waters of the West Indies, that the contrast is most marked. 

 Gorgonise and other Halcyonoids are likewise uncommon. We have 

 found but few Siliceous Sponges, and all of well known types. Star- 

 fishes are abundant, and are as well represented in the variety of genera 

 and species as on the Atlantic side of the Isthmus. I may also mention 

 the large number of deep-sea Holothurians (Elasipoda) which we ob- 

 tained, as well as a most remarkable deep-sea Actinian, closely allied 

 to Cerianthus, but evidently belonging to a new family of that group. 

 We found the usual types of deep-sea West Indian Annelids, occasion- 

 ally sweeping over large tracts of mud tubes in the region of green mud. 

 Although we dredged frequently in most characteristic Globigerina ooze, 

 I was much struck with the absence of living CJlobigeiina- on the surface. 

 Only on two occasions during a calm did we come across any number 



