MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 49 
same species we had obtained when towing with the open surface net 
from a depth of 200 fathoms, two days before, at Station 3382, a dis- 
tance of about sixty miles. We brought up, in addition to the species 
obtained at that station, Pyrosoma, Benthoteuthis, a number of Sternop- 
tyx, some of them quite small, not measuring more than half an inch 
in length, Scopelus, Stomias, Gonostoma, Astronesthes, Melamphaés, 
Plagusiz, a fine black Beryx-like fish of a new genus which we had 
brought up alive in the trawl at Station 3383, and which evidently is 
not a bottom fish, while I had assumed at that time that it might come 
from 1,832 fathoms. We also brought up in the open part of the net a 
number of young Eryoneicus, from half an inch to an inch in length- 
Our first specimens of the genus came up in the trawl at Station 3375, 
depth 1,201 fathoms, afterwards at Station 3377, depth 764 fathoms, 
and, before we lowered the Tanner net, the trawl at Station 3388 had 
also brought up a fine large specimen of this genus, which we then con- 
sidered to have come from a depth of 1,168 fathoms. But it is more 
probable that even the old of this genus, with their huge swollen cepha- 
lothorax, are peculiarly adapted to float passively, and live in the inter- 
mediate belt between the surface and the deepest point to which the 
pelagic fauna may extend. At the time the haul with the Tanner net 
was made, it was blowing quite a fresh trade wind, and it was a favor- 
able day for deeper hauls, as the disturbance of the surface had been 
great during the earlier part of the day and the preceding night. 
On the 11th of March (at Hy. Station No. 2619, depth 1,100 fathoms) 
the Tanner net was sent to tow at a depth of 300 fathoms. We paid 
out 430 fathoms of wire rope and towed nineteen minutes. The extra 
length was slowly taken up, until the line became vertical. The mes- 
senger was then sent down to detach the closing weights, the time of the 
messenger to reach the tripping crank being two minutes and twenty sec- 
onds. The time can readily be ascertained by retaining a hold of the wire 
rope, as the shock of the striking messenger can be most distinctly per- 
ceived on deck. The net was then hauled up at the usual rate of about 
100 fathoms in four minutes. The Tanner net reached the surface with 
the bottom of the bag well closed. The same precautions were taken to 
isolate the lower part of the bag, and with the water in which the net was 
washed, as on the first trial. As then, we found that the lower part of the 
bag, closed at 300 fathoms, again contained absolutely nothing. 
The upper part of the net, which remained open all the way from 300 
fathoms to the surface, contained the same amount and quality of mate- 
rial we had obtained on the first trial There were, perhaps, not so 
