88 EXPEDITION OF THE "ALBATROSS," 1S99-1900. 



Jan. 22. At anchor in Wotje. Surface haul by electric light; obtained 

 mainly young fishes and larvae of shore Crustacea, a good many Copepods, 

 and a few Annelids. 



Jan. 24. At anchor in Arhno lagoon. Made a surface haul by electric 

 light; obtained young Squid, fishes, Sagitta, Bolina, Macruran larvae, and 

 Copepods. 



Jan. 27. A second haul made at the Arhno anchorage by electric light 

 obtained many Squid, young fishes, many Copepods, Nereis and Hetero- 

 nereis-like Annelids, and larvae of Macrurans. 



Feb. 26. At our anchorage in Truk we obtained a number of phos- 

 phorescent Annelids skimming over the surface, appearing as brilliant 

 luminous spots, and extending, as the animal moved rapidly, into long, 

 thin, tortuous lines from one to two feet in length. 



We did but little towing at Fiji, where 1 had done considerable work 

 oflF Suva during a former visit in the winter of 1897-1898 while cruising 

 through the group in the " Yaralla." The pelagic material collected .at 

 that time, as well as the collections made by Dr. Woodworth at Samoa in 

 1898, will be incorporated with the reports on similar material obtained by 

 the present expedition. We were greatly surprised at the extreme poverty 

 of tlie surface hauls made within the atolls wherever we anchored in the 

 Ellice, Gilbert, or Marshall Islands, with tiie exception of a haul made l)y 

 electric light in Taritari, when the nets came up filled with a swarm of 

 Copepods, with many young Annelids, larvai of Brachiurans and Macru- 

 rans, as well as young fishes. 



We had a similar experience when towing in the Carolines in the belt 

 of the trades. In fact, the poverty of the surface fauna of the regions of 

 the Pacific which we traversed (far from land) was very marked, with the 

 exception of the limited tract while crossing the equatorial current, as con- 

 trasted to the abundance of animal life found in the Panamic district, or in 

 the track of the Gulf Stream and in the West Indian area. 



This renders it far more difficult to obtain data for the bathymetrical and 

 geographical distribution of the pelagic fauna of the Pacific, and until far 

 more extensive material has been brought together, the localization of the 

 surface faunai of the Pacific realm must be left in a very indefinite state. 



