398 BULLETIN 82, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM VOLUME 1 



In 1875 Lieut. Weyprecht had urged the establishment of a number of stations 

 within or near the Arctic circle for the purpose of recording complete series of syn- 

 chronous meteorological and magnetic observations, a plan which was successfully 

 carried into effect after his death. In the present connection the work of two of the 

 stations founded in accordance with this plan is of interest. 



The Dutch were to establish a station at Dickson Harbor. For this work the 

 Varna was equipped and sent out; but in the winter of 1882-83 she was caught in 

 the ice in the Kara Sea and lost, her crew taking refuge on Lieut. Hovgaard's ship 

 the Dijmphna. 



One of the American parties, under Lieut, (later Maj. Gen.) Adolphus W. Greely, 

 sailing on the Proteus August 11, 1881, carried out its portion of the work successfully, 

 though disaster overtook it, and of the original party of 24 only seven were found alive 

 in 1884 by the rescuing steamers Thetis and Bear. It was this expedition that brought 

 back the small specimen later (1907) described as Antedon arctica. 



The Danish man-of-war Fylla visited west Greenland in 1884, carrying Dr. Th. 

 Holm, who had previously accompanied Lieut. Hovgaard on the Dijmphna as naturalist. 



At this time the collections of the U.S. National Museum were being materially 

 enriched through the cooperation of the Gloucester fishing fleet. Strange and curious 

 animals brought up on the fishing lines were carefully preserved and turned over to a 

 representative of the U.S. Fish Commission for shipment to Washington. It was 

 through this cooperation that all the known specimens of the extraordinary Tremaster 

 mirabilis were obtained, as well as a very considerable number of examples of the 

 present species from regions where previously it had not been known to occur and 

 from bottoms on which dredging is impracticable. The Gloucester fishing schooners 

 which secured this form on the fishing banks were the Martha and Susan, the Mystic, 

 the Paul Revere, the Marion, the Rebecca Bartlett, and the Proctor Brothers. 



In the summer of 1885 the U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross made a large 

 number of dredge hauls off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and in the following sum- 

 mer again worked off Newfoundland, meeting with this species on both cruises. 



Prof. Willy Kiikenthal visited Spitsbergen in 1886 and again, with Prof. Alfr. 

 Walter, in 1889, finding this species in the Stor Fjord on the second trip. 



A Swedish expedition to Spitzbergen in 1890, sailing in the Lofoten, under the 

 command of Capt. Marcus Johnsen, and including G. Nordenskiold as geologist, 

 Baron A. Klinkowstrom as zoologist, and J. A. Bjorling as botanist, secured additional 

 information regarding the occurrence of this form in north and west Spitzbergen. 



In 1892, through the courtesy of Alessrs. David Bruce & Co. of Dundee, Mr. 

 Alexander Rodger, an assistant to Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson, obtained a berth on 

 the whaler Esquimaux and proceeded with her on her usual sealing and whaling voj'age. 

 Thanks to Mr. Rodger's energy and industry, and to the sympathy for his work shown 

 by the commander, Capt. Jeffery Phillips, very considerable collections were brought 

 back. Heliometra juvenalis was described (1908) from specimens in this collection. 



An expedition to East Greenland under the command of Lieut. C. Ryder left 

 Copenhagen on the Hekla on June 7, 1891, returning on October 12, 1892. 



The Russian expedition to Nova Zembla in the Nayezdnik in 1893 had as naturalist 

 Mr. N. M. Knipovich. 



The Peary Relief Expedition of 1894 on the steamer Falcon, under the command 

 of Captain Bartlett and the leadership of Mr. Henry G. Bryant of Philadelphia, sailed 



