THREE CRUISES OF THE BLAKE 181 



rt During this season we occupied no less than 200 

 stations, and made over 230 hauls from the 100-fathom 

 line to the depth of 2412 fathoms. A few hauls were 

 occasionally made in shallow water, but they formed no 

 part of our regular scheme. 



" We rarely got from deep water, say between 1500 

 and 2400 fathoms, the rich hauls so invariably made in 

 the Gulf from depths of between 1200 and 2000 fathoms. 

 But we found, what was much more important for our 

 success, that the range of the greater number of the 

 deep-sea species extended within very easy dredging 

 limits, and we soon discovered that by dredging mainly 

 between 300 and 1000 fathoms we obtained, not only 

 nearly all the species extending to the 2000-fathom line, 

 but obtained them in considerable numbers. This enabled 

 us, of course, to collect a large amount of material, and 

 the collection of this year's cruise, combined with those 

 of the previous year, added to the older collections made 

 by Count Pourtales on the Bibb, and to those of the 

 Hassler, make our deep-sea collections but little inferior 

 to those of the Challenger. 



"The collection of Ophiurans is perhaps the largest 

 ever made. In some places the bottom must have been 

 paved with them, just as the shallows are sometimes 

 paved with Starfishes and Echini, and many species 

 hitherto considered as extremely rare are found to be 

 really abundant." 



TO SIR WYVILLE THOMSON 



Barbados, March 11, 1879. 

 Here I am at the end of my work for this season and 

 a very good season it has been. I am surprised to see 

 how many of the Challenger things I have brought up, 



