diff --git a/base/asyncmap.jl b/base/asyncmap.jl
index bdd35f3450064..b6ead5b2de888 100644
--- a/base/asyncmap.jl
+++ b/base/asyncmap.jl
@@ -15,16 +15,18 @@ Note: `for task in AsyncCollector(f, results, c...) end` is equivalent to
 """
 type AsyncCollector
     f
+    on_error
     results
     enumerator::Enumerate
     ntasks::Int
 end
 
-function AsyncCollector(f, results, c...; ntasks=0)
+AsyncCollector(f::Function, results, c...; kwargs...) = AsyncCollector(f::Function, e->rethrow(e), results, c...; kwargs...)
+function AsyncCollector(f::Function, on_error::Function, results, c...; ntasks=0)
     if ntasks == 0
         ntasks = 100
     end
-    AsyncCollector(f, results, enumerate(zip(c...)), ntasks)
+    AsyncCollector(f, on_error, results, enumerate(zip(c...)), ntasks)
 end
 
 
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ type AsyncCollectorState
     active_count::Int
     task_done::Condition
     done::Bool
+    in_error::Bool
 end
 
 
@@ -49,12 +52,12 @@ wait(state::AsyncCollectorState) = wait(state.task_done)
 # Open a @sync block and initialise iterator state.
 function start(itr::AsyncCollector)
     sync_begin()
-    AsyncCollectorState(start(itr.enumerator),  0, Condition(), false)
+    AsyncCollectorState(start(itr.enumerator),  0, Condition(), false, false)
 end
 
 # Close @sync block when iterator is done.
 function done(itr::AsyncCollector, state::AsyncCollectorState)
-    if !state.done && done(itr.enumerator, state.enum_state)
+    if (!state.done && done(itr.enumerator, state.enum_state)) || state.in_error
         state.done = true
         sync_end()
     end
@@ -72,14 +75,28 @@ function next(itr::AsyncCollector, state::AsyncCollectorState)
 
     # Execute function call and save result asynchronously
     @async begin
-        itr.results[i] = itr.f(args...)
-        state.active_count -= 1
-        notify(state.task_done, nothing)
+        try
+            itr.results[i] = itr.f(args...)
+        catch e
+            try
+                itr.results[i] = itr.on_error(e)
+            catch e2
+                state.in_error = true
+                notify(state.task_done, e2; error=true)
+
+                # The "notify" above raises an exception if "next" is waiting for tasks to finish.
+                # If the calling task is waiting on sync_end(), the rethrow() below will be captured
+                # by it.
+                rethrow(e2)
+            end
+        finally
+            state.active_count -= 1
+            notify(state.task_done, nothing)
+        end
     end
 
     # Count number of concurrent tasks
     state.active_count += 1
-
     return (nothing, state)
 end
 
diff --git a/base/deprecated.jl b/base/deprecated.jl
index dc463d55626cf..604bf6e8f2a8c 100644
--- a/base/deprecated.jl
+++ b/base/deprecated.jl
@@ -1003,13 +1003,6 @@ function pmap(f, c...; err_retry=nothing, err_stop=nothing, pids=nothing)
         end
     end
 
-    if err_stop != nothing
-        depwarn("err_stop is deprecated, use pmap(@catch(f), c...).", :pmap)
-        if err_stop == false
-            f = @catch(f)
-        end
-    end
-
     if pids == nothing
         p = default_worker_pool()
     else
@@ -1017,7 +1010,13 @@ function pmap(f, c...; err_retry=nothing, err_stop=nothing, pids=nothing)
         p = WorkerPool(pids)
     end
 
-    return pmap(p, f, c...)
+    if err_stop != nothing
+        depwarn("err_stop is deprecated, use pmap(@catch(f), c...; on_error = e->e).", :pmap)
+        return pmap(p, f, c...; on_error=e->e)
+    else
+        return pmap(p, f, c...)
+    end
+
 end
 
 
diff --git a/base/error.jl b/base/error.jl
index b237db748ee76..3e5e0a66a5b08 100644
--- a/base/error.jl
+++ b/base/error.jl
@@ -85,26 +85,3 @@ end
 
 retry(f::Function, t::Type; kw...) = retry(f, e->isa(e, t); kw...)
 
-
-"""
-    @catch(f) -> Function
-
-Returns a lambda that executes `f` and returns either the result of `f` or
-an `Exception` thrown by `f`.
-
-**Examples**
-```julia
-julia> r = @catch(length)([1,2,3])
-3
-
-julia> r = @catch(length)()
-MethodError(length,())
-
-julia> typeof(r)
-MethodError
-```
-"""
-catchf(f) = (args...) -> try f(args...) catch ex; ex end
-macro catch(f)
-    esc(:(Base.catchf($f)))
-end
diff --git a/base/pmap.jl b/base/pmap.jl
index 489379d40a0f2..c7fe73b696faf 100644
--- a/base/pmap.jl
+++ b/base/pmap.jl
@@ -15,11 +15,18 @@ Note that `f` must be made available to all worker processes; see
 and Loading Packages <man-parallel-computing-code-availability>`)
 for details.
 """
-function pgenerate(p::WorkerPool, f, c)
-    if length(p) == 0
-        return AsyncGenerator(f, c)
+function pgenerate(p::WorkerPool, f, c; distributed=true, batch_size=1, on_error = e->rethrow(e))
+    if  (distributed == false) ||
+        (length(p) == 0) ||
+        (length(p) == 1 && fetch(p.channel) == myid())
+
+        return AsyncGenerator(f, c; on_error=on_error)
+    end
+    if batch_size == :auto
+        batches = batchsplit(c, min_batch_count = length(p) * 3)
+    else
+        batches = batchsplit(c, max_batch_size = batch_size)
     end
-    batches = batchsplit(c, min_batch_count = length(p) * 3)
     return flatten(AsyncGenerator(remote(p, b -> asyncmap(f, b)), batches))
 end
 
@@ -46,7 +53,7 @@ Note that `f` must be made available to all worker processes; see
 and Loading Packages <man-parallel-computing-code-availability>`)
 for details.
 """
-pmap(p::WorkerPool, f, c...) = collect(pgenerate(p, f, c...))
+pmap(p::WorkerPool, f, c...; kwargs...) = collect(pgenerate(p, f, c...; kwargs...))
 
 
 """
diff --git a/base/workerpool.jl b/base/workerpool.jl
index d186c5396eb27..55df585b7dc4d 100644
--- a/base/workerpool.jl
+++ b/base/workerpool.jl
@@ -34,7 +34,17 @@ length(pool::WorkerPool) = pool.count
 isready(pool::WorkerPool) = isready(pool.channel)
 
 function remotecall_pool(rc_f, f, pool::WorkerPool, args...; kwargs...)
-    worker = take!(pool.channel)
+    # Find an active worker
+    while true
+        pool.count == 0 && throw(ErrorException("No active worker available in pool"))
+        worker = take!(pool.channel)
+        if worker in procs()
+            break;
+        else
+            pool.count = pool.count - 1
+        end
+    end
+
     try
         rc_f(f, worker, args...; kwargs...)
     finally