Xo. 12. — Reports on the Remits of Dredging, under the Supervision 

 of Alexander Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, hy the United 

 States Coast Surveij Steamer "Blake," Lieutenant-Commander 

 C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., Commanding. 



(Published by permission of Carlile P. Patterson, Supt. U. S. Coast Survey.) 



IV. 



Preliminary Report on the Worms, hy Professor Ernst Ehlers of 



Gottingen. 



The collection of worms obtained by the Expedition on board the 

 U. S. Coast Survey Steamer "Blake," in the Gulf of Mexico, during the 

 months of January, Februaiy, and March, 1878, is very rich in material. 

 A cursory examination of this collection confirms in general the relations 

 which similar materials from the Hassler Expedition had already shown 

 me; but the "Blake" Expedition has in a number of instances furnished 

 a most desirable supplement to the results of the earlier expedition ; 

 worms unfamiliar to me, which in the latter were represented only by 

 useless fragments, being here found in well-preserved specimens, and 

 worm cases, which I had only seen empty, here occupied by their 

 builders. I hope soon to present my complete report on both these 

 collections, the publication of which has been delayed partly by the 

 pressure of other engagements, partly by the time-consuming work of 

 investigating and illustrating animals for the greater part undescribed. 

 I give here only a mere summary of what I have received from the 

 "Blake" Expedition. The collection was sent in seventy-eight bottles, 

 the contents arranged by locality, being for the greater part so distributed 

 that neither too many specimens nor too dissimilar species were placed to- 

 gether. This was important to their preservation, which was in general 

 very good. With the contents of every bottle was a label recording the 

 locality from which they came. On a few of the littoral species the 

 name only of the place was given ; but the prreater part were marked 

 with the number of the station, its latitude and longitude, and the 

 depth in fathoms; a third lot was labelled in addition "Sigsbee," indi- 



