6 THREE CRUISES OF THE " BLAKE 



55 



to the number of West Indian stalked crinoids. Three species 

 of Pentacrinus were known before the explorations of the 

 " Blake," — two of Rhizocrinus, and one of the strange Ho- 

 lopus. The importance of the collection of the free feather-star 

 crinoids may be gathered from the fact that, while, according to 

 Mr. Carjoenter, the number of species of Caribbean Comatulse 

 is about fifty-five, three quarters of them were first obtained 

 by the " Blake." 



But although the species of stalked crinoids were known, the 

 material formerly at the disposal of naturalists was most scanty, 

 and some two dozen specimens of Pentacrinus represented prob- 

 ably the whole available supply. It was the fortune of the 

 " Blake " to make the first extensive collections of this ancient 

 genus ; they were placed at the disposal of the late Sir Wy ville 

 Thomson, and finally passed into the hands of Dr. P. H. Car- 

 penter, who worked out the anatomy of the genus in an ad- 

 mirable manner. In the Eastern Atlantic a very fine species 

 of the genus (P. Wyville-Thomsoni) was discovered by Gwyn 

 Jeffreys in the " Porcupine," off Portugal, in about 900 fathoms. 



Innumerable fragments of stems of Pentacrinus, and portions 

 of the arms, frequently came up in our earlier dredgings, but 

 we were not fortunate enough until the last day of the first 

 expedition to obtain a single entire specimen, though off Bahia 

 Honda we dredged a young Holopus in excellent condition. 

 When Sigsbee afterwards discovered, off Havana, the Pentacri- 

 nus ground, a short distance from the Morro Light, at a depth 

 varying from 42 to 242 fathoms, he brought up about twenty 

 perfect specimens of Pentacrinus of all sizes, besides a mass of 

 fragments. 



During the winter of 1879-80, Commander Bartlett also 

 found Pentacrinus off Santiago de Cuba, and off Kingston, Ja- 

 maica, and a number of specimens of Rhizocrinus were obtained 

 by the " Blake," but only a few were in perfect condition. Of 

 Holopus a mutilated specimen was dredged. It was collected 

 ■ off Montserrat, and escaped my attention ; as, being on the 

 lookout for black Holopus, I did not notice this imperfect 

 whitish specimen, which must have been alive, among the nu- 

 merous Pentacrini with which it came up. During the second 



