New York Academy of Sciences. 
Biological Section, November 9, 1896. 
Members of the Columbia University Expedition to Puget Sound made 
reports on the summer’s work. 
Mr. N. R. Hagrgineton gave a short narrative of the expedition in- 
cluding a description of the equipment of the laboratory, dredging, in- 
vestigation and plankton collection. 
In addition he made a report on the Echinoderms, Crustacea and 
Annelids. Mention was made of the relation of the asymmetry in Scu- 
tella excentricus to its habit of burrowing and its vertical position 
in the sand. Abundant material, both larval and adult, of Entoconcha. 
This mollusc had been noted by Mitier in 1852 and Baur in 1864 in 
Synapta digitata and by Semper in Holothuria edulis. The 
present material was found in an undetermined species of Holothuria. 
About forty species each of Crustacea, Annelids and Echinoderms have 
been identified. 
Mr. Brapney B. Gairrin presented the following report on the Platodes, 
Nemerteans and Molluscs: 
The Platodes and Gephyrea are relatively scarce. They are represented 
solely by two Dendrocoels, and one Phymosoma respectively. The Nemer- 
tines occur very abundantly, fully fifteen different species were obtained, 
most of which appear to be undescribed, though some seem to approach 
more or less closely the European forms rather than those of the east 
coast of America. The European species are the more numerous. 
The Molluscan fauna is very rich and varied, ninety-three species of 
sixty-nine genera were collected. These include among others the large 
Cryptochiton Stelleri which when alive and expanded measures 
over 20 cm, besides numerous smaller species of Mopalia, Katherina, Toni- 
cella, ete. that occur in vast numbers on rocks and piles between tides. 
The Nudibranchs are notable from their bright colors and large size: 
one species of Dendronotus attains a length of over 25 cm. Cases 
of color variation (Cardium and Acmaea) and color series (Littorina) 
were to be met with as well as color harmonization; many Chitons and 
Limpets are colored so as to more or less resemble the spekled and barna- 
cled rocks upon which they occur. A complete series of Pholadidea 
penita (the “boring clam”) was obtained which shows the gradual atro- 
phy of the foot and concrescence of the mantle edges as the adult con- 
dition is attained. Specimens of Zirphaea crispata were collected, 
a related form in which the foot remains functional throughout life. A 
series of maturation and fertilization stages of this form was obtained. 
Lepton is not uncommon, a Lamellibranch that Jives commensal attached 
by its byssus to the abdomen of the Crustacean Gebia, and has caused 
‘the atrophy of the first pair of abdominal appendages of its host. It has 
