1896.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 35 



mission, to join President Jordan and others on the United 

 States Fish Commissions' steamer, Albatross, in the Pacific 

 waters. The partj' had the good fortune to continue its 

 westward journey' in this company. It was on the evening of 

 the sixteenth of June that the party reached its destination. 

 Port Townsend proved from the first to be a favorable site for 

 the establishment of a laboratory. A tour of the water front re- 

 sulted in the renting of a small building at the northern end 

 of the town ; this had been a carpenter shop and it stood on a 

 wharf convenient to the laboratory needs in collecting. It 

 proved to be well lighted, easily adapted to the purposes of 

 the party. It was speedil}' put in order, shelves, tables and 

 aquarium troughs were arranged, electric lights introduced and 

 water butts raised and fastened near the eaves of the building 

 to provide a substitute for running water, both fresh and salt. 

 While these preparations were going on the freight was un- 

 packed and all purchases made in the wa^' of local collecting 

 apparatus. Within forty-eight hours after its arrival the part}- 

 was ready to make a first collecting trip. 



For dredging purposes an arrangement had been made with 

 the owner of a small steam launch belonging in the neighborhood 

 whereby the party could secure its use whenever desirable, and 

 in this way obviate the greater expense of maintaining the 

 launch during the time when it could not be used. This launch, 

 however, proved almost inadequate for the work : for collecting 

 in shallow water — i. e., up to ten fathoms — it was certainly 

 satisfactory and indeed indispensable : but its lack of a steam 

 windlass made it well nigh useless in deep water and its small 

 size, twent3"-five feet, rendered it hardly fit for use in any other 

 than fair weather. 



This equipment completed, the work of the laboratory pro- 

 gressed rapidl}'. Shore collecting began almost immediatel}', 

 the time of the month providing favorable low tides. And it was 

 in this work that the general richness of the fauna was first de- 

 termined. It was, indeed, due to the shore collecting that some 

 of the best results were later obtained. The material collected 

 was brought to the laboratory for examination — some to be im- 

 mediately preserved, and some to be placed for further study in 

 floating cases in the sluice-way at the side of the laboratory. It 

 was the object of the party that its zoological reconnaissance 

 should be as thorough as possible, and that record should be 

 kept as to the station of particularly interesting forms. The 

 collecting should moreover spread over as large an area of the 

 sound as possible. For this reason the map of the neighbor- 

 hood was continually in use and the launch work so arranged 



