IO DAHLAK 



and was completed at Massawa by : 

 Sayed Alawi Saleh, 'nacuda' pilot. 

 Omar Mohammed Ali, cook. 

 Mohammed Lugud, sailor. 

 Asgodum Negasci, ship's boy. 



The Official Report of the Expedition stated: 



'The group, which was charged with scientific research and the 

 collection of biological material, adopted largely the direct 

 method for both observation and collection, that is to say it 

 carried out the greater part of its work strictly in the underw^ater 

 environment. Indirect methods with lines, triple nets, 'coffe', 

 plankton nets, etc., were also used, though to a lesser extent. 

 Underwater equipment and the direct method permitted obser- 

 vations of great scientific value to be conducted on the habitat 

 and mode of living of species belonging to the most varied bio- 

 logical groups of marine fauna, and made possible a detailed 

 examination of the tropical marine 'biocenosi' of the coral 

 barrier. About 800 pounds of fish of scientific interest were 

 collected and preserved in formalin or in alcohol or dried. About 

 300 species of molluscs were collected, about 50 species of echino- 

 derms, about 60 species of celenterata (mostly madrepores and 

 corals) as well as a large number of sponges, worms, jelly-fish, 

 crustaceans and specimens of plankton from greatly varying areas, 

 all contained in 53 zinc cases. A collection of skulls and eggs of 

 local birds was formed in spare moments. It is estimated that in 

 all over a thousand different specimens were collected, in most 

 cases two or three of each. This result was made possible above 

 all by the adoption of the direct method in the underwater 

 environment. When the material has been thoroughly classified, 

 a task that will take probably two years, a further small step will 

 have been made in the scientific exploration of the sea-bed. To 

 anticipate the final result, it can be foreseen that a number of 

 marine animals either completely unknown or at any rate not to 

 be found in existing museum collections, or so far never indicated 

 in the Red Sea, will have been brought to light.' 



