322 IN LOWER FLORIDA WILDS 



ing the sea was nearly calm, and Henderson de- 

 clared he was going out to try his luck among the 

 rocks of the plateau. "You'll lose a dredge if 

 you do," said the Captain, but H. was firm in his 

 determination; and out we continued until we 

 were twelve miles south of Sand Key. The 

 sounding line showed a hundred and twenty 

 fathoms, rock, and the dredge was put over. In 

 due time it was hauled up and on watching for it 

 no cloud was seen, and we concluded that it had 

 fouled or that there was nothing loose on the bot- 

 tom. But when it appeared a most astonishing 

 sight met our eyes. It was full to overflowing 

 with a more wonderful quantity and variety of 

 deep sea life than we had ever seen in all our pre- 

 vious season's hauls. It reminded one of the pic- 

 tures of the bag carried by Santa Glaus with toys 

 sticking out in every direction. 



Conspicuous among this material was a large 

 number of specimens of "stone lilies" of the genus 

 Antedon or Comatulids, belonging to the order of 

 crinoids. The crinoids swarmed in the seas of 

 early geological time, but their number has grad- 

 ually decreased until only a relatively few species 

 are known to inhabit the oceans of to-day. There 



