REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 167 



Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea by the steameT Albatro.sa since tbe spring 

 of 1888, with the object of preparing- a catalogue of the same, baving 

 special reference to tbe fauna' of tbe lishing grounds, for publication 

 by the Fisb Commission. 



The following specimens have also been identified, namely, the 

 Abbott collection of crabs from the Indian Ocean, the invertebrates 

 fnmi Japan, contributed with a request for names by Kev. H. Loomis, 

 both mentioned among the accessions, and a collection of crustaceans 

 belonging to the Provincial jMuseum of Victoria, Britisb Columbia, 

 transmitted for examinati(m and report. 



The sponges belonging to the family MexactindUdw, collected in the 

 Pacific Ocean by the steamer Albatross, have been sent to Prof. F. E. 

 Scliulze, of Berlin, the well-known authority on this subject, who is 

 now i)reparing a complete revision of the group. He will also submit 

 a special paper for the Museum Proceedings, describing the specimens 

 supplied from here. Similar arrangements have been made with Dr. 

 Axel Goes, of Sweden, to work up the foraminifera collected by the 

 same vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Pacific Ocean ; 

 and with Dr. John Murray, of Edinburgh, Scotland, to study the deep- 

 sea deposits obtained by the Albatross and other United States ves- 

 sels. The collections have accordingly been shipped to them. These 

 same experts reported upon the corresponding subjects in the exten- 

 sive series of volumes covering Ihe results of the voyage of H. M. S. 

 Challenffcr, and the Museum is therefore fortunate in securing their 

 cooperation at this time. 



Prof. Walter Faxon, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Har- 

 vard Uiuversity, has continued to identify the crayfishes received from 

 time to time by this department, and Dr. C. W. Stiles, of the Agricul- 

 tural Department, has undertaken to study the intestinal parasites, 

 which have now been set aside for his examination. 



The Fish Commission steamer Albatross has been employed during 

 the past year chiefly in connection with the sealing investigations in 

 the North Pacific Ocean and Bering Sea, but she has also had the 

 opportunity of doing some dredging work in the same region, from 

 which important collections of natural history were obtained. Some 

 of these have already been turned over to the National ^Museum. The 

 natural-history work of the steamer Fish Raid- has been confined 

 mostly to the oj^ster beds of Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay, 

 and that of the schooner Grampus to surface towing and fishing off 

 the New England coast, and to an investigation of the habits of the 

 mackerel during the spring migrations. Mr. Benedict took ])art in 

 the examination of the oyster beds in Long Island Sound, and through 

 his own efforts was enabled to secure a much larger series of the 

 smaller animals desired by the Museum than would otherwise have 

 been obtained. 



The duplicate specimens belonging to the regular Series No. IV, 



