DATA REGARDING COLLECTING. o 



been deposited in the neighborhood. It was still, of course, possible that they had 

 been sifted into the present position, perhaps by currents, from a greater depth, 

 or that the egg-bearing capsules were actually close to the empty ones and had 

 not been dredged. The latter alternative would clearly be suggested if the eggs, 

 like those of certain species of rays, were deposited in beds, thrust into sand or 

 mud deeper than the reach of the dredge a possibility which, a priori, seemed 

 favored by the dart-like shape of the Chimseroid egg-case. But even this suggestion 

 proved in the end valueless, for experiments showed that no eggs were to be taken 

 by the use of a weighted dredge (one which cut deep into the muddy bottom), even 

 when used in the especial spot which had yielded the greatest number of empty 

 capsules. 



The first eggs of Chimsera were obtained on the California coast during the 

 latter part of the same summer (1896). The writer is greatly indebted to President 

 Jordan for his invitation to visit the Hopkins Marine Laboratory at Monterey, and 

 for his suggestion as to the value of the Chinese fisher-people as zoological collectors. 

 Among the fishermen Ah Tack Lee was found to be of the utmost service, skilful, 

 persevering, accurate in locating Chimsera grounds, and keen in observing. He had 

 even noticed that Chimsera has the curious habit of carrying temporarily its pair of 

 eggs hung freely in the water attached only by elastic threads, and that the terminal 

 filament of the egg-case is provided with an end-bulb which secures its attachment. 



A few words further regarding collecting. During the first summer, between 

 July 22 and September 12, there were collected 300 males and 139 females. Of 

 the latter 15 carried eggs. Each gravid female was found to contain two eggs in 

 practically the same stage of development. The plan pursued was to take those 

 eggs in which the capsule was sufficiently formed (18 out of 30 eggs) and place them 

 in a case, which was then sunk, attached to a buoy, in water of about 30 feet. Of the 

 number of eggs thus incubated, half were opened for the earlier stages; the rest, 

 unfortunately, were lost, a storm having carried away buoy and hatching-case. It 

 was none the less clear, however, that the method was successful, and it was evi- 

 dently but a matter of time before a fairly complete series of embryos could be 

 collected. A new and stronger buoy was therefore established off the Chinese 

 village, and from that time to the present, allowing always for periods of laxity, 

 the fisher-people, influenced by Ah Tack, have been collecting eggs. The only 

 practical difficulty was found to be the suitable fastening of the hatching-cases, for 

 at various times about 1 50 eggs have been lost. 



The writer is particularly indebted to Dr. Ray L. Wilbur, of the department 

 of physiology of Leland Stanford University, for his kind cooperation in the col- 

 lecting work. Dr. Wilbur paid a number of visits to Monterey for the purpose 

 of opening and preserving the eggs, and incidentally prepared a number of notes 

 which are referred to in subsequent pages. Thanks to his care, about a dozen 

 embryos of various stages were secured. There was still lacking, however, a series 

 of segmentation and gastrulation stages, and to obtain these the writer paid a 



