CXX REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, were prepared and shipped to 

 Prof. William E. Hoyle, of Owen's College, MancLester, England. Pro- 

 fessor Hoyle is a recognized authority on this group of mollusks, and 

 kindly agreed to study and report on the Commission's collections. 



Tow-net collections of small crustaceans from lakes in Idaho, Wash- 

 ington, and Oregon, obtained by assistants of the Commission in the 

 course of iclithyological explorations, were, by request, transmitted for 

 study to Prof. S. A. Forbes, director of the State Laboratory of Natural 

 History, Urbaua, 111., who had previously given the Commission several 

 valuable reports on this class of animals. 



A lot of sea- weeds collected by the Albatross in Alaska was sent to 

 Prof W. A. Setchell, of the department of botany in the University of 

 California, for examination and report. 



A complete working series of American fishes is a great desideratum 

 in the laboratory, and active measures have been taken to fill out the 

 reserve collection and arrange it in a manner convenient for ready 

 reference. While the small size of the laboratory precludes the possi- 

 bility of having a large series of specimens on hand, there is ample 

 room for typical examples of all the fresh-water species and the smaller 

 salt-water ones. 



A special collection of considerable importance has been begun, 

 consisting of carefully identified immature fishes of various sizes and 

 ages, more especially those which are propagated by the Commission 

 or are related to those artificially cultivated. 



THE WOODS HOLE LABORATORY. 



The laboratory of the Commission at Woods Hole was operated in 

 the usual manner during this year. The privilege of using the tables, 

 equipment, and fticilities was extended to a number of persons from 

 various well-known educational institutions, who were given sleeping 

 accommodations in the residence building. The laboratory was ready 

 for occupancy July 1 and remained open till about October 1, Mr. 

 Alexander Jones, the acting superintendent of the station, being in 

 general charge. 



The investigators who were granted the privileges of the laboratory, 

 the institutions they represented, and the subjects of their studies were 

 as follows: Mr. Ulric Dahlgren, Princeton University, nervous system 

 of flounder; Mr. Alfred A. Doolittle, Princeton University, embryology 

 of echinoderms and collecting; Mr. Leonard H. Bobbins, Princeton 

 University, anatomy of dogfish; Mr. F. C. Waite, Harvard University, 

 development of green glands in decapoda; Mr, George Lefevre, Johns 

 Hopkins University, budding of ascidians; Dr. Reid Hunt, Johns Hop- 

 kins University, stimulation of cardiac nerves of fishes; Prof. C. C. 

 >[utting. State University of Iowa, description and classification of 

 hydroids; Dr. William Patten, Dartmouth College, phylogeny of horse- 

 shoe crab; Dr. J. H. Gerould, Dartmouth College, nervous system of 



