
1890.] A Zobdlogical Reconnoissance. 429 
some congenial home. Not that I hoped to discover anything 
new in relation to the development of the young of this animal, 
for the changes which it passes through are well known, but it 
would have been a pleasure to be the second person to detect 
here this rare animal, if its home is really in the waters of 
Grand Manan. That pleasure would have been enhanced by the 
fact that since the time when this little creature was found by 
Stimpson in these waters genera and species of this animal have 
been described, and it would have been a satisfaction to know 
whether or not his specimen belongs to some species twice made 
known, for until this animal is once more found and compared 
either with types or with descriptions we must remain in doubt 
what it is or to what species it is allied. 
We also searched in vain for the “ basket-fish,” Gorgonocepha- 
lus agassisti. Fresh from dredging excursions in the channel 
between Eastport and Campobello, where, as under the brow of the 
“ Friar,” many ofthese Echinoderms are brought upin the dredge, 
it was a surprise that this interesting creature was not found in 
our work. Distant trips to remote dredging grounds failed to 
reward us. A trip to the side of.the island under the lofty cliffs 
near the Indian encampment, where it is said to exist in numbers, 
was without result. But always, like a phantasmagoria, the stories 
of the fishermen led us on. There is no doubt that the “ basket- 
fish ” is to be found there, but where it occurs we were not fortu- 
nate enough to discover. An account of the metamorphosis 
which it passes through between the egg and adult would be a 
substantial contribution to our knowledge of Echinoderm de- 
velopment. 
But the rewards which came to us in collecting Ophiurans 
more than made up for our want of success in regard to Comatula 
and Gorgonocephalus. Nowhere have I seen a richer harvest of 
the genera Ophiopholis, Amphiura, Ophioglypha, and Ophiacantha. 
A favorite collecting place for the first of these is on the shore op- 
posite Mr. Cheney’s house. On the point left bare by the re- 
treating tide hardly a single stone could be raised without disturb- 
` ing an Ophiuran hidden under its cover. These animals have a 
variety of colors, with markings of many patterns, but all belong to 
