60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. los 



bottom touched by the dredge is actually small in comparison with 

 the total area involved in the investigation. Such dredge hauls can 

 yield nothing comparable to what can be obtained from a mudflat at 

 low tide, for instance. The equipment available was incapable of 

 penetrating the sticky mud to more than a few inches and dredge 

 hauls are literally made in the dark. The results of such dredging 

 cannot possibly compare with results obtained by digging in a mud- 

 flat where a practiced eye dictates. Nor can the dredging in the 

 rubble zone compare with collecting along a rubble beach or rocky 

 shore at low tide. Equipment could not bring up large rocks and, as 

 every collector knows, it is the underside of large rocks and the sub- 

 stratum under them that tend to be the most rewarding in rocky shore 

 collecting. Nonetheless, despite the disadvantages of a small boat 

 and unfavorable weather, over 110 species and at least 1 1 varieties 

 of mollusks were collected. 



Previous Work 



Members of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, 

 Alaska, 1881-1883 (see Ray, 1885), were stationed near Point Barrow 

 for two years. Their main objective was meteorological work and 

 they were not equipped for dredging operations. Dall (1885b) iden- 

 tified and listed the species of mollusks collected in the vicinity of 

 Point Barrow by this expedition; these total 33 species, plus 2 varieties, 

 over two-thirds of which were shells gathered from the beach. Dall 

 (1919c), who also identified the mollusks collected by the Canadian 

 Arctic Expedition west from Bathurst Inlet, lists 26 species and 3 

 varieties picked up from the beach in the vicinity of Point Barrow. 

 Actually, this expedition did very little work north of Alaska and 

 western Canada. Various ship captains and expedition leaders took 

 dredge hauls at several points along the Alaskan coast — at Cape 

 Lisburne, Cape Sabine, Point Franklin, and Icy Cape, for example — 

 but no one attempted to make a study of any one particular area. 

 In fact, the majority of the Alaskan work was done south of Bering 

 Strait. 



Extent and Character of the Area Investigated 



The G. E. MacGinitie collection was made largely in an area ex- 

 tending offshore in a northwesterly direction from Point Barrow base, 

 wdiich is 6 miles southwest of Point Barrow. Only one station (16 

 miles offshore) was more than 12 miles from shore, and the majority 

 of stations were less than 6 miles from shore. An open coast, weather 

 conditions, and a small boat precluded making manj^ dredge hauls 

 beyond 6 miles from shore, and dredging stations did not cover an 

 alongshore distance much in excess of 6 miles. Dredge hauls were 

 also made at Eluitkak Pass, the entrance to Elson Lagoon, a long, 



