Feb. 28, 1884J 



NA TURE 



407 



me that to this cause the absence of earthworms may be attri- 

 buted. Ants and burrowing beetles, or the larvae of the latter, 

 are, however, common, and no doubt do much service in the 

 manufacture of plant-food, as well as in the destruction of 

 decaying material. At Boise City, Idaho, some enthusiastic 

 disciples of Izaak Walton imported and successfully reared 

 the coveted bait for their fish-hooks in foil suited to the habitat 

 of the Lumbricidrc. Timothy E. Wilcox 



Vancouver Barracks, Washington Territory, 

 January 30 



P. S. — Are earthworms found in Arabia and Egypt? 



ZOOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE WORK OF 

 THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION 

 IN 1883 

 TN the summer of iSSo the United States Fish Com- 

 ■'■ mission steamer Fisli-Haick began her first work in 

 dredging upon the Gulf-Stream slope seventy miles south 

 of Rhode Island, working in from 75 to 600 fathoms of 

 water. Upon this steep submarine bank several hundred 

 species of Invertebrates were found which proved to be 

 new to the American coast. Many were entirely new, 

 others had been described from the Mediterranean and the 

 deep waters oft" the west coast of Europe, and some were 

 identical with fossils from the Italian Tertiary and Qua- 

 ternary deposits, this being true of the shells more 

 particularly. These species have long since been de- 

 scribed in American scientific publications, and two 

 subsequent summers of work in this region have brought 

 to light numerous new and additional species, and at the 

 same time very nearly exhausted the region. The Fish- 

 Hwwk, built for the purpose of serving as a floating shad- 

 hatching station to work in the shallow inlets of Chesa- 

 peake Bay, was, during the summer, when she could not 

 carry on her intended work, made use of for dredging 

 purposes, work for which she w'as not well suited, for her 

 shallow draft and round bottom rendered her unsafe when 

 far from land and liable to encounter rough weather. She 

 could make trips only when pleasant weather was assured 

 for at least twenty-four hours, thereby losing much valu- 

 able time which could have been saved if a perfectly 

 seaworthy vessel had been at the command of the Com- 

 mission. 



Accordingly in 1882 an appropriation was obtained, 

 and early in 1SS3 the Albatross was launched, and made 

 her first trip shortly afterwards. So much has been 

 written about the Albatross that a mere passing notice 

 will suffice. She is a 1000-ton iron vessel, 234 feet long, 

 and drawing 12 feet of water. On the port side, near the 

 bows, the sounding-machine is placed. Just forward of 

 the pilot-house is the dredging-machine, and here, in a 

 clear space left for the purpose, the rougher work, picking 

 out the specimens from the mud, &c.,is done. Aft of the 

 pilot-house, with a chart-room intervening, are the two 

 laboratories and a store-room, — an upper and lower la- 

 boratory, and the store-room beneath. The finer sorting 

 and microscopic work is done in the upper laboratory, 

 th is being lighted by a skylight and four deck-windows. 

 The library is in this room. In the laboratory beneath 

 ar e cases of bottles ready for use and for those containing 

 specimens, and a bench is placed on two ends of the 

 ro om, where rough sorting can be done. In the room 

 below this, bottles, jars, tanks, dredges, nets, and all 

 ap paratus used in the work are contained. Alcohol is 

 ca rricd in a large copper tank. In the upper laboratory 

 are two copper tanks each of 32 gallons capacity, one 

 CO ntaining fresh water, the other 95 per cent, alcohol. 

 B y means of faucets each can be drawn from its respective 

 ta nk. The rest of the ship, with the exception of a few 

 St ate-rooms reserved for naturalists, is given over to 

 m achinery and quarters for officers and crew. She is 

 m anned from the navy, and is under the command of 

 L ieut. G. L. Tanner, U.S.N. Electricity is used for 



lighting, Brush incandescent lights being used for ordinary 

 purposes, while an arc lamp suspended from the rigging 

 lights the deck so well that work can go on as well by 

 night as by day. Engineer Baird, U.S.N., chief engineer 

 of the vessel, has succeeded in making an incandescent 

 light that when lowered to 100 fathoms will neither be 

 crushed nor extinguished. Used in connection with 

 some deep-sea trap, this will undoubtedly give good re- 

 sults in capturing such quick-motioned fish as would avoid 

 the trawl but would be attracted by brilliant light. The 

 apparatus in use is the best which the past experience of 

 the Fish CoraiTiission, U.S. Coast Survey, and European 

 dredging expeditions could suggest. The vessel is so 

 constructed that she can go backward as easily as for- 

 ward. When the sounding-wire is running out, she can 

 go completely around it without causing it to depart from 

 its perpendicular. That the Albatross is perfectly sea- 

 worthy and that the machinery and apparatus and the 

 vessel itself are in the best condition has been proved by 

 the numerous trips made during the year just passed, and 

 by the rough weather encountered. Starting early in 

 18S3 upon her trial trip, she went into water as deep as 

 1200 fathoms. Afterwards numerous trips were made in 

 the deeper waters oft" the southern coast of New England, 

 some lasting a month. The principal work was done in 

 from 1000 to 2000 fathoms, the deepest work done on 

 the United States coast by an .American expedition. 

 Several successful hauls were made in 2400 fathoms, 

 and one in 2950 fathoms. This latter is the deepest 

 successful recorded haul made with a trawl as far we 

 can find out. Soundings were taken in 3000 fathoms. 

 The naturalist in charge is Mr. James E. Benedict. The 

 Albatross has just started on a cruise to the West Indies, 

 where work will be done both on the shores and in the 

 deeper outer waters. 



The previous explorations of the Challenger , Blake, 

 Norwegian, and French deep-sea dredging expeditions, 

 investigating similar regions in the North Atlantic, have 

 rendered the results obtained by the Albatross much less 

 remarkable than they would otherwise have been. Not- 

 withstanding this, and the fact that some worked very 

 near the field chosen by the Albatross, many new species 

 — some of them of a very remarkable character— were 

 taken, often in great numbers. The bottom in all the 

 hauls deeper than 1000 fathoms was of globigerina ooze, 

 the absence of pebbles and sand being a well-marked ar d 

 universal fact. Whenever mud was obtained from any 

 locality, it was thrown into a tub of water, stirred, and 

 allowed to settle, and by repeating this several times a 

 perfectly pure deposit of Foraminiferawas obtained. Each 

 sounding and mud frcm each station was treated in a 

 similar manner, so that samples, and often large quanti- 

 ties, were obtained in this manner, so that material was 

 furnished for a coinplete mono^jraph of the group. Over 

 fifty species have been found in a partial examination of 

 a few hauls. Every variety, both in form and in colour, 

 is represented in these shells. Numerous new species of 

 Gorgonians and Pennatulids were found in many locali- 

 ties. In these soft bottoms, where no stones are to be 

 found, such animals or colonies of animals as must have 

 some firm basis of attachment are almost entirely wanting. 

 Sponges, barnacles, and hydroids are very rare, occurring 

 at times upon the bare stalks of Lepidisis or upon some 

 dead shell. Frequently, barnacles and Actinians are 

 attached to these stalks, fastened in a cramped manner, 

 the base completely sunounding the stem. The barnacles 

 found here are very remarkable, usually being stalked, 

 but one was taken which was sessHe. A common mode 

 of fixation among the Pennatulids is by means of a bulb- 

 like process which projects into the mud. .Acanella, 

 Lepidisis, and their allies fix themselves by branching, 

 root-like projections. A number of specimens of an un- 

 determined species of Umbellifera were taken. Three 

 new species of Epizoanthus, or, more probably, new 



