PREFACE 



The origin and evolution of life, men and ex- 

 peditions are interesting. On the very day of my 

 return from the Galapagos in the Noma, I was 

 introduced to a recently elected member of the 

 Board of Managers of the New York Zoological 

 Society, Henry D. Whiton. Mr. Whiton said to 

 me, "You seem tremendously interested in the 

 Galapagos; if you ever want to go back there I 

 will furnish the steamer if you can get someone 

 else to provide the coal." So from this generous, 

 tentative beginning there crystallized the twenty- 

 four hundred ton steam yacht Arcturus, the 

 specified coal, a splendid oceanographic outfit, a 

 captain and a crew, and an expedition of six 

 months' duration, which steamed from New York 

 to the Sargasso Sea, thence to Cocos and the 

 Galapagos, and which secured a host of treasures, 

 from the most microscopic beings which contribute 

 to the surface luminescence of the sea, to a giant 

 devilfish weighing more than a ton. 



The two chief contributors to the expedition 

 were Henry D. Whiton, who gave the Arcturus, 

 and Harrison Williams who provided three- 

 fourths of the entire cost. Other generous contrib- 

 utors were Marshall Field, Clarence Dillon, 



