THE 



ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS 



OF 



H.M.S. 'ALERT.' 



SUMMARY OF THE VOYAGE. 



BY 



R. W. COPPINGER, M.D., Staff-Surgeon R.N. 



During the summer of 1878 it was resolved by the Admiralty to 

 equip a vessel for the performance of special surveying-work on 

 the western shores of Patagonia, among the South-Pacific Islands, 

 and on the eastern and northern shores of Australia ; in addi- 

 tion to which, it was the wish of the Hydrographer of the 

 Navy, Captain (now Sir Frederick) Evans, F.li.S., that no oppor- 

 tunity should be lost of collecting objects of natural history when- 

 ever the requirements of the survey brought the vessel into regions 

 whose zoology was hitherto but imperfectly known. It was in 

 accordance with these views that on the 20th August, 1878, H.M.S. 

 ' Alert ' was commissioned at Sheerness, with a complement of 

 120 officers and men, by Captain Sir George Xares, who, by a happy 

 coincidence, had commanded the same vessel in the Polar Expedition 

 of 1875-76. On the 20th of the following month we sailed from 

 Plymouth. 



On the outward voyage we touched for a few days at Madeira and 

 St. Vincent respectively ; and at both of these places some shallow- 

 water dredging was accomplished, resulting in the acquisition of a 

 small collection of marine invertebrates, in which, as might have 

 been expected, there was little, if any thing, of special interest. 



B 



