and deposited in the Coast-Survey Office in Washington. The microscopical examination of the specimens was commenced by the late Professor J. W. Bailey, and after his death this work passed into the hands of Pourtales, who devoted his time to it in the intervals of other duties. That most important deposit, Globigerina mud, was first discovered by Lieutenants Craven and Maffit, U. S. N., during GulfStream explorations in 1853. In 1867 systematic dredging in deep and shallow water was commenced on the assumption of the superintendence of the Survey by Professor B, Peirce, who ordered the dredging. At the suggestion of Louis Agassiz, dredgings were made down to a depth of one thousand fathoms. In Professor Agassiz's report, one of the richest grounds for deep-sea corals, lying off Cape Florida, was named Pourtales Plateau. In 1871 Pourtales published what is probably his best-known work, namely, his "Deep-Sea Corals" ("Illustrated Catalogue, Museum of Comparative Zoölogy," Harvard, No. iv), a most excellent memoir containing valuable disquisitions on the affinities of various genera, and excellent notes on the geographical distribution of the species and the nature of the bottom on which the dredgings were made.
"Count Pourtales's name is indissolubly connected with deep-sea zoölogy by means of the genus Pourtalesia, named after him. Pourtalesia, a sea-urchin, one of the Spatangidæ allied to Ananchytes, was found by the Challenger Expedition to be one of the most ubiquitous and characteristic deep-sea animals. Numerous species of the genus new to science were obtained by the expedition in deep water, some of them being of most extraordinary shapes. In conclusion, it need only be added that Count Pourtales's kindness and good-nature were as much appreciated by English naturalists as elsewhere. He was most generous, always ready to give advice to naturalists working in the same most difficult field as himself, to supply them with specimens for investigation, and to discuss in the freest manner, with perfect impartiality, any question of systematic arrangement. He will be regretted by many friends in England, to which he paid frequent visits on his way to his native country, his last visit having been made in the spring of the present year."
Count Pourtales was a man of a strong frame, a vigorous constitution, and a temperate mode of life, which gave hope of a long period of usefulness. But he was attacked by a fatal internal disease, and, after several weeks of great suffering, heroically endured, he died at Beverly Farm, in Massachusetts, on July 17, 1880, aged fifty-seven years.
