OCEANOGRAPHIC WORK ON THE ALBATROSS 



THK Museum K\i)c(liti()ii luidcr Ac-tinjj Director Towuscntl in the 

 I nitcd States I-'isli ( (tnunission Steiunsliip A!l)iitr<)ss conliMiies 

 I lie land collect iiiu in Lower ( alit'oniia and I lie oeeanotirapliic 

 work in I lie waters adjacent accordinji' to i)rearranii-ed sdiednlc. 'I'lic 

 t'ollowinu' (juotations tVoin 1 )i'. Townsend's letters <;ive su^'^cstions of the 

 e\[)cdition'> woi'k. 



M A(a)Ai.i;\.\ Bay, I>. ('., Mnrrh Is, 101 1 



We left San Dicfjo March 7 for work farther soutli. 'I'lic |)rof>;raiu is iK'iiifi car- 

 ried out xcry nuich as oiifiiiially ])lanncil, that is we spend our days ashore and our 

 nigiits at sea, jo^fiins along; slowly and economically with steam on one boiler only. 

 Fotn- or five days at each anchora{i<' would be better than merely one or two, but even 

 as it is wc shall ha\'e a fair repi-esentation of the sea and land fauna of l.owci' Cali- 

 fornia. ( )ccasionally wc take half a day for a run out beyond the fi\-c hundi'cd 

 fathom line to dredfic .Mr. Hell lias already some fine molds of deep sea fishes and 

 invertebrates; liowe\-er, we shall do three times as much dred^iinji on oiu r<'tuni trip, 

 not having!; to land shore parties. 



The collection of shore fishes and invertebrates is naturally the larK<>^'- A few 

 sweeps of the larjie seines give us barrels of fishes to select from, while in\-eiiel>iates 

 arc easy to ^ct at low tide. 



\\"e \'isited San Ucnito and ("e(lros islands, obtaining; fair i-eprescntations of 

 the land forms jjcculiar to them. \\'e shall do some deci)-watcr dredniuji on the way 

 to Cape St. Lucas, o\n- next stop. 



The climate could not be better. The awnings are spread, and 1 am sorry to .see 

 the days slipping; by so rapidl,\'. 



bA 1'az, L. ("., Minrh Jti, I'tll 



To-morrow c\-cninji we bejiin to mo\"c uj) the (<ulf, takinji in both islands and 



mainland. We now have abom five hundred birds, with other land forms in smaller 



numbers, (loinfi up the (!ulf coast wc shall make trials for mountain sheep and 



antelope. We lia\e coyotes, rabbits, wood rats ;uid mice in larjie numbers. 



Dr. Lose will have the bulk of the collections. His bo.xcs, crates and l)arrels of 

 \MlIainous cacti arc fillinfi the ship. 



C-iAYMAs, Mkxko, Ajull 1."), lltll 

 After Icaviiifi La Laz, the Albatross made a trip up the (iulf as far as .\n<iel 

 de la Guarda Island. From there we crossed the Gulf to 'i'iliuron Island, then 

 to San Esteban Island, coming from there to Guaymas to-ilay. We leave to-night 

 for La Paz to get coal for the homeward voyage, calling at Santa Catalina, Esinritu 

 Santo and Cerralvo islands. We have GOO birds, 200 mannnals, |)erhaps 400 lizards 

 and snakes. We are shipi)ing to the Xew York Zocilogical Lark by ex])ress to-day 

 two crates of live snakes and large-sized lizards. 



Our collections are largelv from unexi)lored islands and undoubiedly contain 

 new species. We shall pick up some good things on the islands between here and 

 La Paz: th:'n dredge in deep water all the way t(j San Francisco. 



