8 I IJIMA : HEXACTINELLIDA. I. 



water in the space between this ridge and Vries Island is in- 

 dicated by the soundings of 43 fathoms and 70 fathoms (see 

 the Plate). The locality of the latter sounding seems to be 

 separated from the northern slope of Vries Island by a sub- 

 marine valley, which probably effects a communication between 

 the deep trough along the Izu coast and the Gokeba Basin. The 

 latter is assumably also connected with the central basin by a 

 deep passage along the southern side of Okinose. The headland 

 of Mera in the Province of Awa extends itself in a south- 

 westerly direction for some distance into the Gokeba basin as a 

 submarine bank, called Merasê or Onigasê (the Devil's Bank), 

 which is much dreaded by coasting mariners on account of the 

 current from the Sagami Sea which at times sweeps out over it 

 with furious velocity. 



0^-mos^ is apparently a submarine extension of the promontory 

 of Sunosaki, as Onigase is of Cape Mera. It is known to 

 stretch out westward for a distance of about 22 kilometers from 

 Cape Sunosaki. The hydrographie charts contain a number of 

 soundings on this spit, the shallowest sounding given being 37 

 fathoms. Its northern slope is known to the fishermen of Misaki 

 as Inside Okinose (Japanese : Okinose uchibeta) and the southern, 

 as Outside Okinose (Jap.: Okinose soto). The former dips down 

 into a narrow trough leading from the Central Basin eastward 

 in the direction of Tateyama Bay, to bend northward at a certain 

 point and extend up the Uraga Channel as a shallower trough. 

 The entrance into the above trough is considerably over 700 fathoms 

 in depth as will be seen on the chart. Both slopes of Okinose 

 have proved to be very rich collecting grounds for zoologists. 



Before proceeding further in the orientation of our favorite 

 collecting grounds, I should note the method by which the fishermen 



