XX.-NOTICE OF THE REMARKABLE MARINE FAUNA OCCUPY- 

 ING THE OUTER BANKS OFF THE SOUTHERN COAST OF NEW 

 ENGLAND, AND OF SOME ADDITIONS TO THE FAUNA OF 

 VINEYARD SOUND.* • 



By a. E. Verrill. 



1881. 



The Uuited States Fish Commissiou occupied, during the season of 

 1881, the station at Wood's Holl,t Mass., on Vineyard Sound, where a 

 laboratory for its use was established in 1875. 



The shallower waters of that region had been very fully explored by 

 the Fish Commission in 1871 and 1875. jSTevertheless, much was done 

 this year toward completing the investigation of the surface fauna, 

 which is exceedingly rich and varied at Wood's Holl. The larval forms 

 of Crustacea, annelida, echinodermata, mollusca, etc., were taken in 

 larger numbers in the towing nets, as well as adult forms of many kinds, 

 including, especially, numerous species of Syllidfe, many of which were 

 new. 



The special subject for investigation this year was, however, the rich 

 fauna that was discovered in 1880, in deep water, about 75 to 120 miles 

 off the southern coast of New England, near the edge of the Gulf Stream. 

 A brief account of our discoveries in that region, in 1880, was published 

 by me in the American Journal of Science (vol. xx, p. 390), with notices 

 and descriptions of many of the mollusca and echinoderms then discov- 

 ered. A more detailed account of the mollusca^ was published by me in 

 the Proceedings of the National Museum (vol. iii, pp. 356-409, December 

 and January). Prof. S. 1. Smith published an account of the Crustacea 

 in the same Proceedings (vol. iii, pp. 413-452, Januarj^, 1881). 



In the following article some of the more interesting species, obtained 

 in both years, are noticed. Some of these species were also dredged on 

 the 16th of November, 1881, by Lieut. Z. L. Tanner, in a trip made to 

 the deep water off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, after the regular 

 dredging operations of the season had ceased. 



* The following article is an abstract of papers published in the American Jonmal 

 of Science, Vols. XXII-XXIV, 1881 and 1882. 



t Formerly written "Wood's Hole," but the name was changed by order of the 

 Postmaster-General, in 1875. 



t Much fuller reports on the mollusca, with numerous illustrations, have more re- 

 cently been published by the author in the Trans. Conn. Academy, Vols. V and VI. 

 ' [1] 641 



S. Mis. 46 41 



