Narrative of Bahama Expedition. 165 



haul at a depth of one hundred and twenty fathoms. i As the 

 bar neared the surface and the tangles themselves could be 

 seen rising through the blue water, we noticed that a stream 

 of brownish objects was trailing after it, as if innumerable 

 mossy bits were floating away from the hemp strands. When 

 the tangles came on board we found them literally covered 

 with a mass of crinoids, all of one kind and quite small. We 

 estimated that at least live hundred specimens came up in 

 that haul, and it was evident that hundreds or thousands 

 had washed off during the ascent of the tangles from the sea 

 bottom. This was probably the greatest number of indivi- 

 duals of anv one species obtained at a single haul during the 

 entire cruise. The bottom must have been actually packed 

 with them in spots. It appears that other expeditions secured 

 almost as great numbers of Rhizocriniis at a single haul, 

 and over a hundred specimens of Pcntacrinus came up at 

 once on the tangles while the •• Blake" was working in 

 the Caribbean. When we remember that these forms all 

 seem to occur in isolated colonies where the individuals are 

 very numerous, and that great areas of the sea bottom have 

 never been touched by dredge or tangles, it becomes evident 

 that the Crinoidea form a much more important element in 

 the fauna of the great deep than most people, even zoologists, 

 suppose. This fact is still further emphasized when one 

 examines the splendid volumes of the •■Challenger" Report 

 which are devoted to the Crinoidea and tinds that over two 

 hundred and tiftv species of the Comatul^ and some thirty 

 species of the Pentacrinid.-e are therein described and 

 tigured. 



Probably no group of animals secured on the Pourtales 

 Plateau contained more that is of interest to the general natu- 

 ralist than the class Asteroidca? None of the star-fish were. 



'T!ie bearing of tlii.s spot, as near as we could get it, is Sand Key Light, 

 tifteen miles distant, bearing X. by W. /-2 W. 



-The following approximate identifications were made mainly with the 

 help of the "Challenger" Report on the Asteroidea, by W. Percy Sladen, 

 F. L. S. 



