254 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



On very still nights the surface net was in use till 

 late into the night, while Agassiz examined, in glass 

 bowls held directly over an electric light, the catch of 

 minute pelagic forms. At every anchorage electric lights 

 were put into the water at night to attract the surface 

 fauna. This furnished sport for the sailors, who fished 

 up the prey with long-handled gauze dip nets. Agassiz's 

 attentive consideration of all the specimens brought to 

 him by the men served to keep up their interest, and 

 the amount of pelagic material thus collected was con- 

 siderable. 



After reaching the Galapagos, writing to Colonel Mac- 

 Donald of the line across the Humboldt Current he says : 

 " With the exception of three good casts the trawling on 

 that part of the sea bottom proved comparatively poor." 



He must, however, have been thinking at the time of 

 some of the wonderfully rich ground he had dredged in 

 the Blake, for the letter continues : — 



" In the deeper parts of the channel between Galera 

 Point and the southern face of Chatham Island we found 

 a great number of Elasipoda, among them several genera 

 like Peniagone, Benthodytes, and Euphronides, repre- 

 sented by numerous species. The Starfishes of this our 

 second cruise did not differ materially from those col- 

 lected during our first trip, but we added some fine spe- 

 cies of Freyella, Hymenaster, Astrogonium, Asterina, and 

 Archasteridse to our collection. Among the Sea-urchins 

 on two occasions we brought up fine hauls of a species of 

 Cystechinus with a hard test, many specimens of which 

 were in admirable state of preservation." And so on 

 through a list of the Ophiurans, Gorgonians, crusta- 

 ceans, worms, mollusks, fishes, etc. 



