220 ZOOLOGICAL GLEANINGS 



of the genus Macrurus, and on one occasion we 

 brought up a multitude of large brittle-starfishes 

 [Pectinura conspicMo) ; but in deeper water, up to 750 

 fathoms, where the bottom was consolidating under 

 pressure into a stiffish clay, we encountered fields of 

 sea-urchins {Pkormosoma) and large simple corals 

 {Flabellum laciniatum and japonicum). Among the 

 more interesting contents of the trawl at this time, I 

 must mention an empty egg-shell of a Chimcera — a 

 deep-sea shark not before known to exist in tropical 

 seas — and a dwarf species of Cerianthus, a genus of 

 sea-anemones of great rarity in Indian waters. 



Towards the end of April, as the weather began 

 to grow unsuitable for survey-work, the ship's head 

 was turned towards Bombay again ; and on the way 

 home we trawled twice in deep water, off the Malabar 

 coast, getting among other things a stalked sea-lily, 

 some specimens of the brilliant many-rayed deep-sea 

 starfish Brisinga, and a spoon-worm (Sipunculus), with 

 eggs lying free in its body-cavity. 



Early in May we reached our old moorings, and 

 soon afterwards I ceased to belong to the ship's 

 company, though my connection with the Marine 

 Survey, so happily begun in November 1888, has 

 continued in an unofficial form up to the present 

 day. 



It would hardly become me to conclude this 



