No. 14. —(Lerrer No. 3.) To CARLILE P. PATTERSON, Superin- 
tendent United States Coast Survey, Washington, D. C., from 
ALEXANDER AGASSIZ, on the Dredging Operations carried on from 
December, 1878, to March 10, 1879, by the United States Coast 
Survey Steamer “ Blake," Commander J. R. BARTLETT, U.S. ۷۰ 
(With two maps.) 
L sornep the “Blake” at Washington, on November 27, 1878, for a 
second dredging cruise. According to your instructions, we intended to 
procecd to Nassau, and there devote a few days to dredging and sound- 
ing, in order to trace the connection between the fauna of the northern 
extremity of the Bahama Banks and that of the Straits of Florida. Owing 
to rough weather this was not deemed prudent, and we were compelled 
to put into St. Helena Sound, and, for the same reason, when off 
Jupiter Inlet, instead of crossing the Gulf Stream to make Nassau, it 
was thought best to put in to Key West. From there, when the 
weather moderated, we started for Kingston, Jamaica, calling at Havana 
for the purpose of making a couple of hauls on the Pentacrinus ground 
discovered by Captain Sigsbee off Morro Light. We made two casts of 
the dredge in 175 to 400 fathoms, and obtained a few specimens of 
Pentacrinus. We kept on along the northern shore of Cuba, through 
the Old Bahama Channel, without stopping to sound or dredge, Mr. 
Pourtalés having, in former years, dredged and sounded, in the “ Bibb,” 
Acting Master Platt, U. S. N., over the greater part of this line. 
At the eastern end of the Old Bahama Channel we ran a line of 
dredgings and soundings across from Caya Cruz to Lobos Light. In the 
deepest part of the channel we found only 500 fathoms, although the 
hydrographic maps indicated 900 fathoms, no bottom, This is an excel- 
lent example of the uncertainty of the old method of sounding with 
hemp rope, even in moderately deep water, when there is a strong cur- 
rent, such as we found here. 
Nothing of svecial interest came up in any of the casts made either 
with the trawl or dredge. Wound around the steel-wire rope on this 
line, however, we found a few pieces of the deep-sea Siphonophores 
(Rhizophysa), described lately by Studer in the Zeitschrift f. wissen. 
Zoologie. Subsequently we frequently found more or less complete 
specimens of these Siphonophores, generally entangled on the wire rope 
