1885.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 635 



( Young specimens.) 

 Off Havana, Cuba : 



Station 2152, 387 fathoms (12543) ; station 2163, 133 fathoms (12545) ; station 

 2164, 192 fathoms (12544) ; station 21G6, 196 fathoms (12364) ; stations 2319- 

 2350 (12542); station 2347, 216 fathoms (12546); station 2349, 182 fathpms 

 (12541). One or two specimens are contained in each of these lots. 



( Variety described in notes.) 

 South of Cuha : 



Latitude 19° 56' 06" N., longitude 75° 47' 32" W., 254 fathoms; station 2134, 

 1884, 1 specimen (12548). 

 Off Havana, Cuba: 



Station 2155, 300 fathoms, Cr., specimen (12549). 



Pentacrinus asterius (Linn.) Liitken. 

 P. H. Carpenter, loc. cit., p. 300. 



The lower portion of the stem of a large individual was collected off 

 Havana, Cuba, in 1885. It was associated with Pentacrinus Miilleri and 

 Pentacrinus decorus, and was only detected when the large collection of 

 specimens made by the Albatross, and contained in several tanks, was 

 being overhauled at the National Museum. The exact locality was, 

 therefore, not noted by the naturalists on board the steamer, but it 

 came from one of the stations, 2319 to 2350 inclusive, with depths of 67 

 to 279 fathoms. The catalogue number is 12363. 



This specimen consists of the lower five internodes and part of an- 

 other internode above, the upper break presenting an irregular and 

 fresh surface, indicating that the upper part of the stem, with its calyx 

 and arms, had probablj^ been broken off by the tangles at the time this 

 fragment was secured. The lower end of the stem terminates with a 

 nodal joint. The entire length of the stem is about 155™"*, the diameter 

 7mm . (-|jQ internodes are about 26"^™ long each, and consist of 18 to 19 

 joints ; the cirri are about 72""^ long, with 47 joints. 



This stem agrees very well with the description of Dr. Carx»enter 

 {loc. cit.), and compares favorably with the lower part of his figure 

 given on Plate XI. It adds a new locality to those previously recorded 

 for the species, but we cannot help regretting that a more perfect ex- 

 ample was not obtained. 



NOTES ON TH3 GREAT DOLPHIN, CORYPHiBNA HIPPURUS, LINNE. 



By S1I.AS STEAKIVS.* 



It is a surface swimmer, living not deeper than half- way to the bottom, 

 in 20 or 30 fathoms of water, and yet never coming into the very shoal 

 water close to the coast. Dolphins are generally distributed over the 

 Gulf of Mexico during the summer months, but in winter the chilly sur- 

 face water drives them and their food to the lower parts, about the 



* Extracted from a letter in reply to inquiries concerning specimen number 37227, 

 accession 16171, forwarded to the Museum by Mr. Stearns about June 17, 1885. — 

 T. H. Bean. 



