REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 39 



Department of Marine Invertebrates. — Mr. Ricliard Eathbun, curator, 

 reports that the most important addition to this department was made 

 by the United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross in April, on 

 her return from a three months' cruise in the Gulf of Mexico, mainly 

 spent in investigating the grouper and red-snapper fishing grounds off 

 our southern coast. The collection turned over to the Museum was 

 much larger and contained many more novelties than that made by 

 the Albatross in the same region and the Caribbean Sea the previous 

 year, and the unassorted materials filled nearly 1,000 packages of all 

 sizes. Of most interest was a series of several hundred specimens of 

 sea-lilies, mostly collected off Havana,^ Cuba, and representing the 

 \'Urious stages of growth of two species of Pentacrinus and of one of 

 Bhizocrinus. Over 30 species of Echini, or sea-urchins, were also con- 

 tained in the collection, and other divisions of the Echinodermata, as 

 well as the Coelenterata, Crustacea, and Mollusca, were very fully rep- 

 resented. The bathymetrical range covered by these explorations ex- 

 tended from the shore level to a depth of 1,467 fathoms. Prof. A. 

 E. Verrill, of New Haven, has transferred to the Museum over 1,000 

 packages of identified specimens resulting from the explorations of 

 the Fish Commission in former years. ' Mr. Henry Hemphill continued 

 his collecting on the Florida coast, begun the previous winter, until 

 March of this year, and has contributed several cases of specimens 

 belonging to many groups. The other principal accessions have been 

 a fine series of the sea-urchins and star-fishes of the west coast of 

 Mexico from Mr. A. Forrer, numerous specimens of Pacific corals and 

 echinoderms 'from Dr. R. E. C. Stearns, and the collection of marine 

 invertebrates made by Lieut. George M. Stoney, U. S. N., in Alaska, 

 in 1884. Much progress has been made in the determination and cat- 

 aloguing of specimens. Prof. Walter Faxon has completed liis studies 

 of the collection of cray-fishes, which is now the second in the UTiited 

 States in size and number of species, being exceeded only by that 

 at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge. It contains 40 

 North American species. The collection of echini, which holds the 

 same relative rank, has also been almost completely identified, and other 

 groups are being rapidly worked over. In June the west hall of the 

 Smithsonian building, devoted to the exhibition of marine invertebrates, 

 was opened to the public, and although the collections now displayed 

 fill only the wall cases surrounding the room, they present a very credit- 

 able appearance, and all the groups belonging to this department are 

 represented to a greater or less extent. The dried collections not on 

 display have been mostly transferred to the northwest gallery of the 

 main hall, which will also serve as a general work-room for the <le])art- 

 ment. Soon after the middle of June the curator and his assistants 

 left for Wood's Holl, Mass., to take part in the summer explorations of 

 the United State's Fish Commission. 



