Nakratini'. oi' Bahama E.\im:i)ition. 73- 



water was on its way to the surface. The number of wilHn<r 

 hands on board made it possible to work short shifts, the men 

 working" in pairs in reg"ular rotation, each ]iair making thirty 

 tiunis of the crank, the next pair inimechatelx" taking their 

 place at the thirtieth turn. It was necessary for one man to 

 stand in front of the machine with a stick as a lever to guide 

 the rope so that it reeled regularh' and did not pile on the 

 drum. Others got out buckets, tubs, sieves and jars, in which 

 to assort the proceeds of the haul. As the tangles neared the 

 siu-face an anxious group of watcher^ stood along the rail. It 

 must be confessed that this was a time of \'erv great but sup- 

 pressed excitement. We hardly dared hope that the lirst haul 

 would be successful, and were indeed prepared to work for a 

 week, if necessary, before giving up oiu" cherished hope of 

 f)btaining the much prized ■• sea-lilies." Although assuring 

 each other that success must not be expected on this hrst 

 attempt, there was eager expectancy on every face that leaned 

 over the rail to catch the hrst glance of the returning tangles. 

 At last a dim yellowish blotch appeared way down in the blue 

 depths, then one of the sinkers, and linally the bar broke above 

 the surface amid breathless silence. The next moment a 

 shout of triumph, for there, clinging to the hempen strands, 

 were over a score of the graceful pentacrini. It was well 

 that no phonograph recorded the wild rhapsodies \\ith which 

 we fondly and caressingly disentangled our prizes from the 

 hempen meshes, placing them as soon as possible into sixl\' 

 per cent, alcohol, as advised by Mr. Benedict. 



During the four davs spent on the pentacrinus grotmds we 

 made fifteen hauls, mosth' with the tangles, dredging down 

 the slope from one hundi^ed and twenty-live to two hundred 

 and sixty fathoms, and sectu^ing about one hundred and i\h\ 

 specimens of these handsome crinoids. Pciilacrimis tuitllcri 

 and P. dcranis were the most abundant, but two beautiful 

 specimens of /"*. df/ci-fa were secured, besides a very small 

 Pcnlacriiuis which n^^ay be new.' When fresh. P. DiYiIlcri ]■& 



' Dr. Charles Waclisinmli. llii.- vcti'ian aiillioiity on crinoids. kindly idcntifu'd 

 these spfOios f(jr us. 



