130 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 
VII.—ON THE HABITS OF RECENT CRINOIDS, AND THEIR PARASITES. 
The Crinoids, like the other Echinoderms, are very gregarious in their habits. This 
is especially the case with those living near the shore and in depths down to 150 fathoms. 
In Torbay, at Roscoff, in the Bay of Naples, and in many other places large quantities 
of Antedon rosacea may be readily obtained. Ten thousand individuals of Antedon den- 
tata are estimated by the officials of the U. 8. Fish Commission to have come up at one 
haul of the dredge off the coast of New England.t’ The “ Porcupine” dredged Antedon 
phalangiwm in abundance in 50 to 100 fathoms off the Tunis coast ; while the Challenger 
found Antedon carinata to be very plentiful off the coast of Bahia. Numerous examples 
of Actinometra jukesi and Actinometra strota were dredged at Cape York, and large 
quantities of both genera have been obtained in the shallow water round the Philippines 
by Semper, Meyer, and the Challenger. Station 192, near the Ki Islands (140 fathoms), 
and Station 214, off the Meangis Islands (500 fathoms), proved to be very prolific, both 
in Comatule (12 and 7 species), and in Pentacrinidee (4 and 6 species); and the 
dredgings of the “Blake” in the Caribbean Sea have yielded similar results. A few 
stations where Comatule were especially abundant (off St. Vincent, Grenada, and 
Montserrat, all 120 fathoms or less) also yielded several examples of Pentacrinus. Prof. 
Agassiz records that on one occasion no less than one hundred and twenty-four indivi- 
duals were obtained at a single haul of the bar and tangles.’ 
On the other hand, the score of individuals of Pentacrinus wyville-thomsoni dredged 
by the “ Porcupine” in 1870 in 1095 fathoms off the coast of Portugal were unaccom- 
panied by Comatulee. This is perhaps due to the depth being one at which these Crinoids 
are comparatively rare; as two species were obtained, together with fragments of 
Pentacrinus, within a few miles of this Station, where the depth was 350 fathoms less. 
Some thirty individuals were taken by the ‘‘Talisman” in 1883 at a depth of 1480 metres 
(800 fathoms); but no information respecting the presence or absence of Comatule at the 
same Station has yet been published. 
The Bourgueticrinide. like the Pentacrinide, are generally found living in large 
numbers together. Both Sars and Verrill have obtained numbers of specimens of 
Rhizocrinus at a single haul of the dredge, and Agassiz records that “on one occasion 
off Sand Key the dredge must have passed through a forest of them, judging at least 
from the number of stems and heads of all sizes which it contained.”* Bathycrinus 
aldrichianus was found by the Challenger to be equally plentiful in the Southern Ocean 
(Stations 146, 147); and it is evident that in certain localities Crinoids of the more 
common genera may be obtained in almost any quantity. 
1 Amer, Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. xxiii. p. 136. 2 Bull. Mus. Comp. Zodl., 1879, vol. v. p. 296. 
3 Bull. Mus, Comp. Zoél., 1879, No. 1, vol. v. p. 5. 
