REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 37 



natural history of this important marine invertebrate, which will be 

 based chiefly upon his own studies now in progress, and is designed 

 especially to present that class of facts regarded as essential in per- 

 fecting the methods of its propagation and providing for its better 

 protection by means of legislation. 



Prof. H. V. Wilson, of the University of North Carolina, nearly com- 

 pleted during the summer his inquiries relative to the development of 

 certain sponges, which he had previously carried on at Woods Hole 

 and at the Bahama Islands. These studies were partly undertaken 

 with the view of using them as the basis for experimental operations 

 in Florida respecting the cultivation of the commercial sponges, but this 

 work has been deferred for the i^resent owing to Professor Wilson's 

 resignation from the service of the Commission. The report upon his 

 observations, received during the year, has been published in the Journal 

 of Morphology.^ 



Dr. William Patten, of the University of North Dakota, was engaged 

 upon the study of the sense organs in the horseshoe crab {Limulus), 

 supplementing his observations on structure by many interesting 

 physiological experiments to determine their functions. These related 

 in part to the sensibility of this animal to changes in temperature, a 

 subject of great importance in respect to fishes, which it is hoped will 

 soon be taken up. Certain points concerning the annelid worms were 

 studied by Dr. E. A. Andrews, of Johns Hoi^kins University; the 

 development of the group of mollusks known as chitons was observed 

 by Mr. Maynard M. Metcalf, of the same university; and Dr. James I. 

 Peck, of Williams College, was occupied in preparing a systematic 

 paper on the pteropods and heteropods collected during recent explora- 

 tions of the steamer Albatross. 



The following persons were also present at the station : Mr. H. McE. 

 Knower and Mr. Lefevre, post-graduate students of Johns Hopkins 

 University, collecting and studying the surface life of the region ; Mr. J. 

 Y. Graham and Mr. Farr, of Princeton College, engaged in the study of 

 the anatomy of several local fishes and invertebrates ; Prof. E. E. Boyer, 

 of the public schools, Chicago, collecting fishes and marine invertebrates 

 for instructional purposes; Mr. W, McM. Wood worth and Mr. C. B. 

 Davenport, of Harvard University, the latter investigating several 

 forms of hydroids, in coutinuatiou of observations begun the previous 

 season. 



The schooner Grarnpus, which was employed during the summer 

 months in conducting investigations along the outer margin of the 

 continental platform south of New England and New York, made its 

 headquarters at Woods Hole, and Professor Libbey, in direct charge of 

 that inquiry, occupied quarters in the laboratory during the intervals 

 between the different trips. The steamer Fish Hawk was also at work 

 in Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound during a part of the summer. 



1 Observations on the Geramule and Egg Development of Marine Sponges, by Henry 

 V. Wilson. Journal of Morphology, ix, No. 3, pp. 277-406, plates 14-25, 1894. 



