no. 8 SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I913 27 
eight degrees less than that of the open sea. The mud brought up 
with the dredge seemed almost icy to the touch. This condition is 
probably produced by cold springs seeping through the floor of the 
bight. This colder water of the bight yielded to their dredge Voldia 
limatula, large and fine, and Nucula proxima, whereas just around 
the protective spit of sand, on the ocean side, they found dead Tere- 
bras of two species, some young Bbusycon perversa and a valve of 
Cardium robustum ; a somewhat startling association of species. 
Then there was the open sea, which here presumably differs in no 
manner from other open sea stations along the 200 miles or more of 
this coast. The bottom drops off very gradually to the edge of the 
continental shelf, some 75 or 100 miles out. The open sea stations 
which they occupied were, as might be expected, very poor. The 
smooth, hard sand bottom seemed almost barren of life, and the 
softer patches that were explored contained only many dead shells, 
mostly small bivalves. The work in the open sea was scarcely a good 
test, although the collectors made probably 20 hauls reaching out from 
the shore some 4 or 5 miles, but the chart soundings indicated more 
promising areas of pebbly bottom a few miles beyond what they con- 
sidered the safety zone for a small motor boat. 
The inner waters of the sound were found to be unexpectedly rich 
in molluscan life, the species, for the most part, not having been taken 
previously outside or in the bight. 
Only two full working days were spent here, where the party was 
fortunate in securing an excellent boat and obliging skipper. The 
material has been identified with great care, and the results of the 
expedition will be published in the Proceedings of the U.S. National 
\useum. 
BXPERIMENTS WITH CERIONS IN THE FLORIDA KEYS 
In the second issue of the Smithsonian exploration pamphlet,’ at- 
tention was called to experiments with Cerions, conducted by Dr. 
Bartsch, under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution. The plant- 
ings of Bahama Cerions made upon the Florida Keys were visited 
in the latter part of April and early June by Dr. Bartsch, and a de- 
* Smithsonian Misc. Coll., Vol. 60, No. 30, 1913, pp. 58-62. 
