508 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [6] 



floats out to this region after drying on the beaches during ebb tide, by 

 reason of the adherent air and repellant action toward the water. The 

 clay mud, with much of the fine sand, is probably carried out from the 

 shallower water as suspended sediment. But some of the clay may re- 

 sult from the local decomposition of feldspathic rocks and sand at the 

 bottom of the sea. 



FAUNA OF THE DEEP WATER. 



The deepest localities were all rich in animal life of many kinds.* A 

 considerable number of interesting fishes were obtained, many of them 

 new to our fauna. Some of these are new genera and species of great 

 interest. 



Very interesting additions to our collections were made in nearly 

 every class of marine invertebrates, including many undescribed species 

 and genera, some of which are of great morphological importance, while 

 many of the described species were previously known only from distant 

 regions on the European side of the Atlantic, in the Arctic or Antarctic 

 regions, off the coast of South America, in the West Indies, or even in 

 the Indian or Pacific Oceans. Thus our knowledge of the distribution 

 of the deep-sea forms, both geographically and in depth, has been greatly 

 increased. Some of these deep-sea species were first described as fossils 

 from the European tertiaries. Moreover, a considerable number of our 

 shallow-water species have been found to have a much greater range in 

 depth than was anticipated, many of them going down below 500 fathoms, 

 while some even go below 1,000 fathoms. 



On the first trip of the "Albatross " from Wood's Holl, which was made 

 July 16 to 19, four successful hauls were made with a large trawl, in 

 1,346 to 1,735 fathoms, on the 17th and 18th of July, two each day, be- 

 sides the soundings and temperature determinations, including series of 

 temperatures at various distances from the surface. On this trip about 

 one hundred and five species of Invertebrates were obtained, not in- 

 cluding the Eoraminifera and other minute forms. There were among 

 them fourteen species of Anthozoa 5 two of Hydroids ; twenty-two of 

 Echinoderms; thirty-eight of Mollusca; fifteen of Crustacea; one of 

 Pycnogonida ; ten of Annelida ; one of Bryozoa ; two of Sponges. 



ANTHOZOA. 



The Anthozoa were abundant, both in individuals and species, in 

 most of the dredgings. From below 1,000 fathoms there were numer- 



"•An account of the Crustacea was published in the July number of the American 

 Journal of Science by Prof. S. I. Smith, who has also published a detailed account of 

 that group, with figures, in the Fish Commission Annual Report, part x. The writer 

 has published a detailed paper on the Mollusca, with five plates, in the Trans. Conn. 

 Acad., vol. vi, and also a brief general account of the work of the season in the Ameri- 

 can Journal of Science, vol. 28, p. 213, with descriptions of new species of Echinoderms 

 and Anthozoa. Some of the new fishes have been described by Messrs. Gill and Ryder. 



