2 



specimens thrown overboard from some vessel trading between 

 Japan and Lisbon, and ihat it would be a perfectly hopeless 

 task to look for living specimens off the west coast of Por- 

 tugal ; and one great friend of mine, whose opinion on the 

 subject had very great weight with me, believed this so firmly 

 that I yielded to his arguments on the point, and abandoned 

 the idea of going to Setubal in the spring of 1868. This 

 same friend has since, by suggesting the deep sea expeditions 

 of 1868 and 1869, and by the amount of work that he has accom- 

 plished in connection with these expeditions, opened up to the 

 stvident of nature quite a new world. Itso happened, too, that 

 at the very time that I was dredging up specimens of Hy- 

 alonema in the tranquil Avaters of Setubal he was dredging 

 it, and a host of other glorious species in the more stormy seas 

 of the north, for hearing again from Professor Bocage in July, 

 1868, that the Hyalonema had been actually taken in situ, 

 I lost no time in going out to Lisbon in 1868, the time when 

 the shark fishery season commenced. I have in another 

 place^ given a short account of my excursion in Portugal, 

 and will only here refer to it for the purpose of stating my 

 firm conviction that, though so many new and rare species 

 have been taken by the several deep sea expeditions of the 

 Swedish, British, and American Governments; yet 1 believe 

 much more remains to be done, and I would suggest that 

 the deep ground ofi" Setubal is well worthy of investigation, 

 as it lies within a distance of from ten to thirty miles of the 

 shore ; and as the sea there is, as a rule, pecvdiarly tranquil 

 during the months of August and September, it would be 

 possible to make a very thorough investigation of it without 

 even the assistance, most valuable though such assistance be, 

 of a man-of-war or a Government survey vessel. The present 

 King of Portugal is in every way entitled to take his place 

 in the ranks of science ; and tlie national museum at Lisbon 

 is already indebted to him fur most important aid, and for 

 many valuable collections ; perhaps Professor Bocage might 

 induce him to follow the example set by Britain, and per- 

 suade him to allow a Government survey vessel to spend a 

 fortnight or three Aveeks on the ground I refer to ; the collec- 

 tions that would surely be made would form a most desirable 

 addition to the museum at Lisbon, as well as be most valu- 

 able for exchanges. It was my object on my return home to 

 make a report on the structure of Hyalonema mirabilis, of 

 which I had succeeded in taking living specimens, I had 

 also every opportunity given me by Professor Bocage of 

 studying the magnificent scries of specimens preserved by 

 ^ ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History,' December, 1868. 



