PART 5 A MONOGRAPH OF THE EXISTING CRINOIDS 395 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, this species was fiist found by Capt. John 

 Phipps in 1773 in the course of his work in mapping the northern coast of Spitzbcrgen. 

 This expedition, which consisted of tiie two small war vessels of the type known in 

 those days as "bombs," the Racehorse and the Carcass, resulted from the efforts of the 

 Hon. Daines Barrington and of the Royal Society who prevailed upon the British 

 Government to undertake anew the work of Arctic exploration with the general object 

 of acquiring additional knowledge in all branches of science. Capt. Phipps' record 

 under the name of Asterias pectinata (1774, 1775) was repeated by Scorcsby (1820) and 

 by Dewhui-st (1S34). 



In the British Museum there is a large specimen wnthout indication of locality 

 which was presented by the Admiralty. It might possibly have come from this expe- 

 dition. Two other fine specimens, both of them bleached white, are simply labeled 

 Dorothea. Since the zoological collection of the Royal College of Surgeons was passed 

 on to the British Museum it is almost certain that these are two of Leach's original 

 specimens. The Dorothea and Trent were two whalers, commanded by Capt. David 

 Buchan and Lieut. John Franklin, which sailed in April 1818, to try to force a passage 

 north of Spitzbergen, since Scoresby had reported the icy seas to be remarkably open 

 the preceding year. In the same month two other whalers, the Isabella and the Alex- 

 ander, commanded by Capt. James Ross and Lieut. Edward Parry, left England to 

 attempt the northwest passage. These expeditions were largely due to the efforts of 

 Su- John Barrow and also to the passage by Parliament in 1818, largely thanks to 

 Barrow, of a measure tlu-ough the operation of which very substantial rewards would 

 accrue to successful Polar expeditions. 



Both the Dorothea and the Trent secured this species, in deep water ofi" the north- 

 west coast of Spitzbergen, not long before they were severely nipped in the ice and forced 

 to return to England. 



In 1837 Prof. Sven LovSn undertook a voyage of two months to the western coast 

 of Spitzbergen, which was indirectly the stimulus for the later Swedish polar expeditions. 

 The cost of the voyage, which was begun at Hammerfest in the schooner Enigheten, 

 was entirelj' defrayed by Loven himself. 



In the year 1856 Prince Napoleon made a journej' to Norway and Iceland, stop- 

 ping on the way at Bergen. Here he was received with great pomp and formality, and 

 among other gifts which he received were several specimens of this species which prob- 

 ably had come from Spitzbergen, whence "curios" of all sorts were being constantly 

 brought back by whalers and others. One of these specimens is now in the Paris 

 Museum. 



The loss some time subsequent to 1845 of Sir John Franl-din's expedition in the 

 Erebus and Terror, with 134 officers and men, served to focus public attention on the 

 Arctic, and the discovery among the Eskimo of a number of objects undeniably be- 

 longing to the expedition by Dr. Rae, who in 1854 conducted a party in the interests 

 of the Hudson Bay Company, and brought back these items with him to England, still 

 further stimulated general interest. Between 1854 and 1858 about 15 expeditions were 

 sent out from England and the United States in search of some trace of the missing men; 

 but they were uniformly unsuccessful. Undeterred h\ previous failures, Lady Franldin 

 purchased and equipped the snu^ll yacht Fox, which sailed from Aberdeen in July 1857 

 under the conmiand of Mr. Leopold McClintock. Though unsuccessful in the main 



