NarkatixI'; ()!•■ Bahama l*2.\r]-:i)i'ri().N. 75 



and these also canie throuL;"h with reniarkabh' little damage. 



The first specimen of modern Pciitacri)iii> brought to the 

 attention of the scientific world was secured from the \icinity 

 of the Island of Martinique, and sent to Paris in 1775. During 

 the next century only a few isolated specimens found their way 

 to Europe, and none of these had the soft parts sufficiently 

 well preserved for satisfactory investigation. The '•• Chal- 

 lenger" secured quite a series, comprising se^'eral new species, 

 but nowhere were the}' found in any considerable quantities 

 during that memorable expedition. It remained for the United 

 States Coast Survey Steamer *• Blake '' to discover that there 

 are still spots on the earth's surface where these graceful 

 forms grow in almost as great profusion as during past geo- 

 logical times. 



So far as the writer can discover, onl\' two vessels dredged 

 over the pentacrinus grounds previous to the visit of the *' Emih' 

 E. Johnson." These were the '• Blake " and the '• Albatross." 

 the latter vessel being, as Agassiz says, '• the best equipped 

 dredger for deep sea work in existence." Both of these 

 expeditions secured magnificent series of Pciitacn'iius. whicli 

 enriched the collections at the Smithsonian, Harvard, and a 

 few other Eastern Institutions. No Western museum had any- 

 thing like a good series of these interesting animals until our 

 ■expedition secured an abundance of stalked crinoids for the 

 •State University of Iowa. 



One attempt to use a dredge on the pentacrinus ground 

 came near resulting disastrously. The dredge caught on the 

 rocky bottom and hung so solidh' that it seemed that our 

 ■dredge rope would certainly part. The strain was evidenth' 

 tremendous, but the rope held, and after great labor and 

 anxiety the dredge was broken from the bottom, and came up 

 bent out of shape and with little in it to pay for our trouble. 

 The tangle bar is the instrument par excellence to use on rocky 

 .bottom, such as we found at this station. 



The labor of continuous dredging was rather severe on the 

 young men, most of whom were still inclined to be seasick. 

 The heat at times seemed oppressive, and our tacks ached 



