444 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 16. 



animals belonging to nearly all the marine or- 

 ders. Many fishes never before taken on our 

 coast were secured. Thousandr of beautiful 

 and undescribed star-fishes of rj'any species, 

 with varied shapes and colors, encumbered our 

 deck. Crabs and shrimps of strange kinds, 

 some of them of large size, were taken bjf 

 thousands. Numerous new and curious species 



though aided by the officers and sailors of the 

 steamer, who shared more or less in our en- 

 thusiasm, — from daylig lit in the morning till 

 late at night, to preserve what we had se- 

 cured, notwithstanding we threw awaj- many 

 thousands of duplicates. Some idea of the 

 richness of this fauna, and of the abundance 

 of life on the bottom in this region, maj- be 



Mai> I. — Southern coast of New England to the Gulf Stream slope, showing lines of depth and the posi- 

 tions of the principal dredging-stations of the U. S. fish-commission, 1871, 1874, 1876, 1880-82. The crosses 

 (-I-) indicate dredging-stations, part of which are accompanied by their serial numbers corresjjonding to 

 the records and published lists. Those bearing numbers between 309 and 347 were occupied by the Blake 

 in 1880. 



of shells, some of them very beautiful ; bushels 

 of large and brilliantly colored sea- anemones, 

 several of them over a foot across, and most 

 of them previously unknown ; with sea-pens 

 and corals of elegant forms and colors, — were 

 among the more conspicuous treasures secured 

 on that ever memorable day. So successful 

 were we, that it required the most diligent and 

 devoted labor on the part of our entire partj-, — 



gathered from the fact that it required about 

 five barrels of alcohol to jjreserve the portion 

 of the catch that we saved on this one day, 

 and a similar amount was used by us on va- 

 rious subsequent trips in a single da.y. On 

 our first daj' eight hauls were made, mostly 

 with a large beam-trawl. There was a very 

 heavy swell, due to a violent cyclone that had 

 prevailed farther south a few daj's before. 



