198 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1884. 



the Commission, Lave beeu iu course of preparation at tbis point for 

 some time, and the more important ones are now nearly completed; 

 but during last summer it was still necessary to make use of the small 

 frame laboratory building put up some years ago, and which, though 

 amply commodious for the small party then iu the field, does not afford 

 sufficient facilities for the work as it is now carried on. The new im- 

 provements comprehend a large, square stone pier and wharves for the 

 use of steamers, and in(;losing several basins for fish culture, and a 

 laboratory building three stories iu height. The lower story of the 

 laboratory will be devoted to fish culture, to the larger experimental 

 aquaria, and to the coaiser kinds of work ; the second and third stories, 

 to the laboratory work-rooms proper, which will be fully equipped for 

 all the investigations to be carried on in connection with the study of 

 the ocean fisheries. It is also intended to reserve sufficient space for 

 the use of special workers in biology who may desire to study any of 

 the materials brought in by the steamers of the Commission, and which 

 it would be difficult for them to obtain by other means. 



Many of those who have participated in the summer explorations of 

 the Commission have given their services gratuitously, and it has, there- 

 fore, been possible to organize a much larger corps of assistants during 

 that season than the funds of the Commission would otherwise have 

 permitted. The zoological investigations this year were carried on 

 under the immediate supervision of Prof. A. E. Verrill, who has been 

 connected with the Commission since the first year of its establishment. 

 His associates and assistants in the laboratory work, in addition to the 

 curator, Mr. Peter Parker, jr., and Mr. A. H. Baldwin, Avho belong to 

 the j)ermauent staff of the Commission, were Prof. S. I. Smith, of Yale 

 College ; Mr. Sanderson Smith, of New York ; Prof. L. A. Lee, of Bow- 

 doin College; Prof. Edwin Linton, of Washington and Jefferson College; 

 Mr. H. L. Bruuer, of Illinois; Mr. B. F. Koons, of the Storrs Agricult- 

 ural School, Connecticut; Mr. J. H. Blake, of Cambridge, Mass. (as art- 

 ist); Ensign W. E. Saffbrd, U. S. N.; and Mr. Willard Nye, jr., of New 

 Bedford, Mass. Mr. James E. Benedict continued iu charge of the 

 natural history work on the steamer Albatross, and during the several 

 trips made from Wood's Holl was assisted by two or more of the per- 

 sons mentioned above, Mr. Sanderson Smith and Mr. Peter Parker 

 being constant members of the steamer party. Ensign E. H. Miner, U. 

 S. N., of the Albatross, was associated with Mr. Parker in the care of 

 the fishes. 



The active work of exploration was begun by the Albatross imme- 

 diately after leaving Washington, and many important results were 

 obtained before she reached Wood's Holl, in the latter part of July. 

 Scarcely any time was lost during the entire summer from unfavorable 

 weather or other causes, and her cruising continued until the very last 

 of October, thus covering a continuous period of fully three mouths. 

 The area explored extended from the southern edge of George's Bank 



