[97] WOEK OF STEAMER ALBATROSS. 99 



li.vdiograi)lii(' work was done. In the evening of tlie Itli of May we 

 came to anchor on a shoal near the cape. The electric light was put over 

 the side, and myriads of small crustaceans takeu by its help. While 

 the ship remained at anchor the next day a tangle was used from the 

 side, made by fastening short pieces of chain to an iron bar about two 

 feet long. Short wires were twisted into the links of the chain to make 

 it take hold of the bottom. This was thrown as far as possible away from 

 the ship and then pulled in. This tangle worked well, and several 

 dishes were filled with sponges and dead shells, from which many small 

 animals came out as the water became stale. Among the worms 1 

 vecoguizQd Podarle obscura, described by Professor Verrill in U. S. F. C. 

 Eeport, 1871-'72. It is very common at Wood's Holl, and appears to 

 be quite as common off this cape. This was the last collecting done on 

 the cruise. From Cape San Antonio we sailed for Key West, Fla., 

 arriving on the 7th instant. Leaving the latter place on the 10th, w(i 

 sailed for Washington, D. C, where we arrived on the 16th instant at 

 4.10 p. m. 



The next cruise of the Albatross commenced on the 19th of July, at 

 Norfolk, Va., and ended on the 2Gth of the same month, at Wood's 

 Holl, Mass. During this cruise thirteen hauls were made, all of which 

 were successful in taking specimens from the bottom. Shortlj^ after 

 leaving our first station, 2170, I was informed that we had passed 

 several cuttle-fish which were floating dead on the surface. I reported, 

 this to Captain Tanner, and when another was seen he stopped the ship 

 and ordered a boat to be lowered to pick it up. I went in the boat, and 

 Avith a scoop-net procured four specimens. They proved to be octopods 

 {AUoposiis mollis). Hue was in sufiQcicnth' good condition to bear hand- 

 ling, and seems to be yet in a fair state of preservation. The others 

 were too much decomposed to amount to anything, though we saved 

 them in fragments as best we could. A little later in the day a good 

 specimen was procured which was not removed from the scoop-net 

 until it could be turned into a large tank of alcohol. When out in the 

 boat several fragments of the octopus were seen, but our specimens 

 wlien taken were to all appearances entire. It was impossible to make 

 any measurements; however, some idea of their size can be given, as 

 one just about filled a common water pail. These large cephalopods 

 were sighted in varying numbers for a distance of 75 miles. The ship 

 was sounding and dredging in the mean time, occupying portions of two 

 days in making that distance. It is not unreasonable to suppose that 

 the area covered by these animals extended over the square of this dis- 

 tance, and allowing ten animals to the square mile, which is not a large 

 estimate, as seven or eight were frequently seen at one time, would give 

 a total number of 56,250 animals. 



On the morning of the 21st, several squid were ])icked up with a 

 scoop-net from the ship's side, all more or less mutilated. I made them 

 out to belong to the geuus CalUteuthis. Two squid {Ommastrephes) 



