572 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Indies. Xotes on birds seen during July and August have been pub- 

 lished by Mr. Harold Bowditch (Amer. Nat., Vol. 38). Professor 

 Coe, of Yale University, has published an important paper on one 

 of the very interesting land nemerteans : ' The Anatomy and De- 

 velopment of the Terrestrial Hemertean (Geonemertes agricola) of 

 Bermuda' (Proc. Post. Soc. Nat. Hist., Vol. 31). 



Among the other subjects for which material was collected, or 

 upon which investigations were carried on, are the following: The 

 internal parasites of fishes, fossil vertebrates, new marine fishes, 

 shoal-water deposits, land mollusks, insects, myriapods, annelids, land 

 planarians, bryozoans, acalephs and hydroids, foraminifera, diato- 

 maceous earth, marine plants, and the conditions of swamp forma- 

 tion. 



During the past summer we had the use of the steam launch 

 Flora, owned by Mr. Henry H. Barton, of this city. This launch 

 was larger (about -15 feet over all) and in many ways better than 

 the Minnow. This year we were fortunate enough to find at sev- 

 eral localities a near relative of Amphioxus — the interesting Asym- 

 metron, which was discovered several years ago at the Bahamas by 

 Professor Andrews, of Johns Hopkins University. This was first 

 recognized at Bermuda by Mr. Louis Mowbray, of St. George's, who 

 was a member of the station party. It is an interesting fact that, 

 so far as our search extended, Amphioxus and Asymmetron do not 

 inhabit the same sand banks. The Bermuda Asymmetron is much 

 smaller than Amphioxus and much more expeditious in burrowing 

 into the sand. Amphioxus is remarkably quick in its movements, 

 but Asymmetron is quicker. The habits of these two primitive ver- 

 tebrates, as well as the finer anatomy of their nervous systems and 

 the anatomy and physiology of other organs, were studied by members 

 of the party this year, and will form the basis of special papers to 

 be published later. 



In conclusion, I wish to state that the Bermuda government has 

 decided to erect a permanent Aquarium and Biological Station at 

 the Flatts, in accordance with the plans that I have already referred 

 to, and has voted a sum of money (about $20,000) for the under- 

 taking, and a smaller annual sum ($2,000) for its maintenance. It is 

 expected that when the buildings are completed arrangements will be 

 made to have the station open for research throughout the year. 



