MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 291 



fathoms), we obtained the first specimens of Phormosoma I had seen 

 alive. I was much astonished to find them, fully blown up, hemispheri- 

 cal or globular in shape. This was the shape they always took in sub- 

 sequent hauls, and on several occasions, when they were obtained from 

 comparatively shallow water, near the 100-fathom line, they came up 

 fully alive and retained their globular outline. The alcoholic specimens 

 I had seen in the " Challenger " collections came up as flat as pocket- 

 handkerchiefs, from great depths, and were naturally regarded as flat 

 Sea-Urchins, although of course endowed with great mobility of test. 

 These Echini, with their globular, flexible tests, recall vividly the 

 Perischoechinidae, with which they have also points of resemblance of 

 great interest in the structure of their ambulacral and interambulacral 

 plates. 



In the dredgings taken off the southeastern end of Jamaica we did 

 not bring up anything of great importance. From Jamaica we were 

 obliged, owing to the strong trades, to keep on toward St. Thomas, 

 without either sounding or trawling till off Porto Rico. During the 

 winter months the trades blow sufficiently hard to make dredging and 

 sounding quite uncomfortable on a vessel of the size of the " Blake." 

 We had, therefore, no opportunity of adding anything to the hydrog- 

 raphy of that part of the Caribbean Sea. 



On an-iving at St. Thomas we made a programme for our season's 

 work. This we were fortunate enough to carry out to the letter, as far 

 as the dredging and sounding were concerned. With the exception of 

 the time required for coaling and ovei-hauling the engine at Martinique 

 and St. Lucia, not a single day was lost. Although Lieutenant-Com- 

 mander Sigsbee, U. S. N., did not command the " Blake," yet the im- 

 provements which were made this year in the dredging and sounding 

 apparatus were all carried out under his supervision, the vessel having 

 been fitted out for sea before he was relieved by Commander J. R. 

 Bartlett, U. S. N., who commanded the " Blake " during this winter. It 

 was also my good fortune to find on board the majority of the officers 

 with whom I sailed in the winter of 1877- 78 : Lieutenant Sharrer, the 

 executive officer, Messrs. Jacobi, Peters, L. P. Sigsbee, and Dr. Nourse. 

 Now, as before, I was indebted to their cordial interest and efficient 

 assistance, as well as to that of Lieutenant Wallis, Mr. Pemberton, and 

 Mr. E. L. Reynolds, who had joined the " Blake " for the first time. 

 We thus started under the very best auspices. In the use of the im- 

 proved machinery, suggested by our former cruise, the experience of the 

 old officers saved us from the annoyances which always accompany the 



