36 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



also obtained many Miocene mollusks. Early in June Dr. Kier joined 

 Dr. Eaymond Douglass, of the U.S. Geological Survey, in Nevada, 

 where they searched for Upper Cambrian carpoids. These are primi- 

 tive echinoderms, and no specimens as old as the Upper Cambrian 

 have been found outside of one locality in France. Tveo specimens 

 were located in Nevada, and these are sufficiently well preserved to 

 show characters never before reported in these animals. In the same 

 general area a collection of trilobites was made, and many topotypic 

 corals were obtained from the Pennsylvanian in the vicinity of Ely, 

 Nev. 



During the year Dr. Richard Cifelli, associate curator of inverte- 

 brate paleontology and paleobotany, made three expeditions in the 

 Atlantic in collaboration with staff members of the Woods Hole 

 Oceanographic Institution. In August he joined the oceanographic 

 vessel R. V. Crawford, which then traveled in a southeasterly direc- 

 tion and occupied the same stations that were studied a year earlier 

 by the scientists working from the R. V. Chain. Hydrographic ob- 

 servations were made and 200-meter oblique plankton tows were taken 

 at each station. A separate net was used for Foraminifera and a 

 total of 15 samples was collected. After completing work at the last 

 station in the Sargasso Sea, the vessel returned directly to Woods 

 Hole. In January Dr. Cifelli joined the research vessel B. V. Chain 

 at Woods Hole and accompanied it along the regular Woods Hole 

 AEC traverse to Bermuda. Despite the cold, windy weather the 

 scientists were able to occupy all the 15 stations along this traverse, 

 and Dr. Cifelli collected a plankton sample for Foraminifera from 

 each. This was his third series from the traverse. 



Dr. Cifelli's third trip, also on board the B. V. Chain, was in the 

 equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The principal area of investigation was 

 the Romanche Trench. This feature lies on the Equator at about 

 longitude 18° W. and is a region of considerable geologic interest. 

 The depth of the Trench is over 8,000 meters, but in contrast to other 

 ocean deeps it is not situated adjacent to an island chain or continental 

 land mass. Rather, it lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge itself. Dr. 

 Cifelli joined the Chain in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on April 19 and 

 accompanied it to Woods Hole. Coring, bottom sampling, and bot- 

 tom dredging were emphasized during this phase of the cruise. The 

 group obtained five cores, six bottom samples, and one dredge. All 

 the cores contained rich layers of Foraminifera and one of them was 

 taken from the deepest part of the trench. In addition, plankton 

 tows were taken every night along the traverse from the Romanche 

 Trench to Woods Hole. Dr. Cifelli obtained 52 plankton samples, 

 which will be a valuable addition to the national collections, since 

 they cover a very large range of latitude. 



