[43] WORK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 45 



out. After dragging aii hour the trawl buried in the mud and chiy of 

 the bottom and was lost, together with the wing-nets and mudbag. 



In the first haul several valuable specimens were taken. Among 

 them were three very large red shrimi) and many smaller ones, a variety 

 of anthozoa, ophiurans, Ophioglypha convexa, several species of starfish, 

 including a rare Archaster, shells, &c. A few crustaceans were found 

 in the wing-nets, and the mud-bag was filled with rich foraminiferous ooze. 

 Several varieties of fish were taken, among them a large number of 31a- 

 crunis asjier, a few Cyclothone lusca,a,nd a single specimen of Sternoptyx 

 diaphana. A set of serial temperatures and water specimens were taken 

 to 1,000 fathoms, and at 9 p. m. we started ahead W. ^ N. i^er com- 

 pass for the night. The hauls described above were taken about the 

 center of the Gulf Stream, with a current of 2 knots or more per hour; 

 a condition which would be rather favorable than otherwise in shoal 

 water, but in depths exceeding 2,000 fathoms it complicates matters 

 more than one would believe, unless one had experienced the perplex- 

 ities of keeping the trawl on the bottom without kinking the rope or 

 burying it so deeply as to lose the outfit. 



We left the Stream between 4 and 5 o'clock the following morning, 

 the water changing from 83° to 78'^ Fahr. ; and at 5 a. m. sounded in 

 1,582 fiithoms, latitude 37° 25' 00" N., longitude 73^ OG' 00" W. The 

 trawl was lowered at 5.37, the dredge-rope veered to 1,984 fathoms, and 

 the vessel allowed to drift while a splice was made 2,000 fathoms from 

 the end, where the rope stranded. The trawl was landed on deck at 

 11.25 a. m., with an enormous load of mud and a variety of valuable 

 specimens. A sounding was then taken in 1,600 fathoms, latitude 37° 

 22' 53" N., longitude 73° 06' 30" W., and a set of serial temperatures 

 and water specimens obtained to 1,000 fathoms. We then steamed to 

 the northward and westward until 4.12 p. m., when we sounded in 1,423 

 fathoms, latitude 37° 38' 40" N., longitude 73° 16' 30" W., and at 4.54 

 put the trawl over, landing it on the bottom at 6.10 p. m., with 2,100 

 fathoms on the dredge-rope. It dragged until 7.05 and was landed on 

 deck at 8.35, proving an excellent haul. At 9.30 p. m. we started ahead 

 XXE. i)er compass to change our station. 



Among the many valuable specimens taken during the day may be 

 mentioned a variety of anthozoa, large quantities of foraminifera, sev- 

 eral specimens of benthodytes, large quantities of Archaster grandis, 

 and other varieties of starfish, shells, worm-tubes, some very small 

 holothurians, and a heavy load of a substance which resembled cinders 

 from a furnace, both in color and form, but there the resemblance 

 ceased. It was light and quite soft, crumbling under pressure of the 

 hand, and cutting readily with a knife. It came up in fragments from 

 the size of a silver dollar to a foot in diameter, and from J inch to 1^ 

 inches in thickness. There were many burrows, or worm holes, running 

 through the mass, some of them three-eighths of an inch or more in 

 diameter. From appearances I should judge that this peculiar sub- 



