50 



THREE CRUISES OF THE " BLAKE. 



species in the " Blake " collection, and half of them were new. 

 The largest species is Colossendeis colossea (Fig. 254), in which 

 the slender legs are nearly two feet in extent, and the rostrum 

 more than an inch long, while the more slender Colossendeis 

 macerrima spreads to fourteen inches, and has a rostrum fully 

 as long as in the larger species. These species were taken in 

 500 to 1,200 fathoms. The new genus Scseorhynchus (Fig. 

 255) is remarkable for its spiny body and swollen and reflexed 

 rostrum ; the legs of S. armatus (Fig. 256), the single species 

 taken below 1,200 fathoms, are nearly five inches in length. 

 The most abundant species of Nymphon is also the largest 

 known species of the genus. One of the species of the new 

 genus Pallenopsis, dredged from 260 to 330 fathoms, is more 

 than twice as large as any of the species from allied genera 

 belonging near the shore or in comparatively shallow water. 



There is a great contrast between the life of the communities 

 of barnacles, such as we find living crowded on our rocks and 

 floating on the surface, and that of the comparatively solitary 

 deep-sea cirripeds Scalpellum, Verruca, and the like. This is 

 readily understood when we remember that the living or dead 

 organic matter floating on the surface in the wake of currents, 



and along the shores, supplies the former with 



a large amount of food, while the conditions 



of life at the bottom are far from favorable for 



the species living in deep 



water. 



The abyssal cirripeds 



are usually attached to 



nodules, to dead or living 



shells, to corals, large crus- 



taceans, spines of sea-ur- 



chins, and the like. Seal- 



Pellum regium (Fig. 257), 



a pedunculated form, first 



named by Wyville Thomson, is one of the 

 largest species of the genus ; it has been dredged by the 

 " Challenger " from nearly 3,000 fathoms, and is quite common 

 in the West Indies. Verruca incerta (Fig. 258) also is not an 



Fig. 257. -Scalpel- 



lum regium. |. 



Fig. 258. Verruca incerta. 

 8 (Hoek.) 



