THREE CRUISES OF THE BLAKE 183 



are back in 1 Park Place. I shall commence shipping 

 you the Plates on my arrival. 



TO A. MILNE EDWARDS 



Cambridge, April 9, 1879. 



I was delighted to find here your letter of February 5 

 and the plates of the great Isopod, and the book of 

 Crustacea of Mexico, for which I thank you. 



I have again this winter made a superb collection and 

 the Crustacea are well represented. I have again found 

 two specimens of the great Isopod and a gigantic Pycno- 

 gonida measuring two feet ! I begin to unpack next 

 week and I think that about the end of June I shall be 

 able to send you the collections. I have also a magnifi- 

 cent blind Phoberus as big as a lobster ! and a very inter- 

 esting collection of hermit crabs that occupy fragments 

 of bamboo and other pieces of wood transported to great 

 depths by the trade winds. The collection of Ophiurans 

 is astonishing. The Sponges, Mollusks, Fishes, with the 

 Annelids, Echinoderms and Actiniae now make a collec- 

 tion but little inferior to that of the Challenger. What 

 do you say to 300 Pentacrinii ! two kinds. 



I almost forgot to thank you for telling me that I 

 had received from the Academy the Prix " Serres." I feel 

 very much flattered that the Academy have noticed my 

 studies and should have considered them worthy of 

 recognition, which is the more precious to me in that 

 it comes from Paris, whence my father in his day also 

 received the first testimonies of appreciation from his 

 scientific colleagues. 



In the summer of 1880 the Blake, with Commander 

 Bartlett again in charge, was for the third time assigned 



