38 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [NOV. 9, 



The chances of obtaining any material for the stud^^ of the 

 development of a Myxinoid seemed, unfortunately', far less prob- 

 able. This form, standing next to Amphioxus at the base of 

 the vertebrate series, certainly promises to furnish the most 

 important evidence as to the mode of origin of many ver- 

 tebrate structures, if not indeed as to the ancestral conditions of 

 vertebrates themselves. So desirable seemed a developmental 

 knowledge of a Myxinoid, that many European embryologists 

 during the past quarter of a centurj^ have endeavored to secure 

 its younger stages (Myxine) at various points of the North Sea. 

 On the Californian coast as many as five investigators have 

 at different times tried to obtain its embryos (Bdellostoma). It 

 was not until 1894-1895 that the embryo of a Myxinoid was first 

 secured ; its discoverer. Prof. E. C. Price, of the Leland Stan- 

 ford, Jr. University, then succeeded in obtaining three stages^ 

 although these proved to be but tiie later ones. 



When, therefore. Dr. Dean found that the neighborhood of Port 

 Townsend was not favorable for the study of either Cliimaera or 

 Bdellostoma, he finally determined to leave the laboratory and 

 journey further to the southward. Chimsera is, indeed, not un- 

 common in Puget Sound ; it is, in ftxct, very abundant, but 

 there were no fishermen who could be depended upon to provide 

 it in quantity, and it was desired to secure the eggs while still 

 within the fish and to hatch them in floating cases. To obtain 

 the eggs already deposited by means of dredging seemed at first 

 by no means impossible, for the egg capsules were dredged in 

 numbers (as many in fact as eighty in a single day), but in no 

 instance was an embryo to be found, in spite of continued efforts. 

 As far as Bdellestoma was concerned, it was soon found ab- 

 solutely impossible to attempt to secure this form in Puget 

 Sound 



Accordingly, at the end of three weeks' field work at Port 

 Townsend, Dr. Dean left the party and proceeded to the neigh- 

 borhood of Monterey, California, and here at Pacific Grove he 

 continued his studies for upward of eleven weeks. He had been 

 kindly invited by President Jordan, of the Stanford University, 

 to occupy a room at the Hopkins Marine Laboratory, and had 

 gratefull}^ accepted his invitation. Once at Monterey, he soon 

 was able to determine that the conditions were well suited 

 to his undertaking. By means of the fishermen of the neigh- 

 boring Chinese village he was enabled to take part in dail}^ fish- 

 ing trips off the coast, and to secure by means of his own and 

 the remaining boats numbers of Chimrera, so that in the course 

 of his sta}' he had the opportunity of examining over three 

 hundred. Of these fish, thirty" of the females proved to be with 



