6 THREE CRUISES OF THE “BLAKE.” 
to the number of West Indian stalked erinoids. Three species 
of Pentacrinus were known before the explorations of the 
* Blake," — two of Rhizoerinus, 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. Carpenter, the number of species of Caribbean Comatule 
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 Wyville 
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 
