Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 3 



while dreclLifing off the Floi-ida Keys, and Ai^assiz reported 

 on a portion of the collection secured at that time. "And," 

 says he, "since that time T have been engaged, with little 

 interruption, more or less direct)}' in deep sea work.'" Under 

 his direction the "Blake," a United States Coast Survey 

 steamer of 350 tons, made three cruises in 1877 to 1880, 

 which have been the means of demonstrating- that we have 

 in the neighborhood of our chvii southern coast a field for 

 marine investigation which offers more attractions to the 

 zoologist than any other in the world, with the possible 

 exception of the Japan Sea. The amount of material col- 

 lected, and the number of new species obtained, was in manv 

 groups greater than was secured b}- the "Challenger,"''' a much 

 larger vessel, equipped at greater expense. The Reports 

 from these cruises are contained in the Bulletins and Memoirs 

 from the Museum of Comparative ZoologN' at Cambridge. 



Not the least important work done by Agassiz and his 

 associates has been in the line of improvements in instru- 

 ments for deep-water sounding and dredging Piano wire 

 has been introduced for sounding, and the expense and labor 

 of dredging in deep water have been amazinglv reduced by 

 Agassiz* introduction of iron instead of hemp rope, constitut- 

 ing, pei^haps, the most important advance in method since 

 the birth of the science of thalassography. 



The "Blake" was followed by the United States Fish 

 Commission steamer, the "Albatross," which is probably the 

 best equipped dredging 'vessel in existence. She has made 

 three cruises in the West Indies with Mr. James E. Benedict 

 as naturalist in charge, and is now at work in the Pacific. 

 The results of these cruises have not yet been worked up. 

 but an immense amount of material was secured. 



These expeditions, with many others, onlv less notable, 

 have resulted in discoveries of immense importance to zoolog- 

 ical science. The classification of man}- groups of marine 

 invertebrates has been profoundly modified in order to accom- 

 modate the host of new species, genera, and even families, 

 which are now known to inhabit the deep waters of the globe 



