November 3, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



503 



bor vigorous nitrifying organisms, whereas 

 that sea water with which it is in equilibrium 

 in the system should not. It is difficult to 

 account for this, except by assuming that the 

 solution surrounding the sand particles is of a 

 very different nature from that in the sea 

 water above, and yet the possibility of that 

 seems rather remote. Of course small amounts 

 of organic matter covering the sand particles 

 may afford protection for the bacteria. Fur- 

 ther experiments which I am conducting may 

 throw some light on this question. 



Chas. B. Lipman 

 University op Calipoknia 



A RECENT SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITION 

 TO THE ISLANDS OFF THE WEST 

 COAST OF LOV/ER CALIFORNIA 

 At the Berkeley meeting of the Pacific Divi- 

 sion of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science in 1921 there was ap- 

 pointed a 'Committee on Conservation of the 

 Marine Life of the Pacific, Dr. Barton Warren 

 Evermann, chairman. One of the first tasks 

 which the committee undertook was the making 

 of recommendations for the protection of cer- 

 tain of the marine mammals or for the gather- 

 ing of necessary information which would make 

 it possible to advocate a concrete plan in the 

 future. With regard to certain species, there 

 already existed sufficient data so that definite 

 action could be undertaken at once, but with 

 other species practically nothing was known of 

 their present status. This'was notal^ly true of 

 the Guadalupe elephant seal, Guadalupe fur 

 seal and southern sea otter, all of which once 

 existed in great abundance 'along the shores of 

 California and Lower California. 



Through the activities of the committee, an 

 expedition was dispatched from San Diego to 

 the islands off the west coast of Lower Cali- 

 fornia on July 9, 1922, for the primary pur- 

 pose of securing data on the three above men- 

 tioned species of mammals. The government 

 of Mexico provided the fisheries patrol boat 

 Tecate for the work and met all expenses while 

 the party was in the field. Professor Carlos 

 Cuesta Terron, curator of fishes and reptiles 

 of the National Museum of Mexico, was in 

 charge of the expedition and the Mexican gov- 



ernment was further represented by Professor 

 Jose M" Gallegos, of the National Museum, 

 Srs. Joaquin Palacios, inspector, and Rudolfo 

 Laseano, assistant inspector of lighthouses, Sr. 

 Enrique Gonzalez, fisheries inspector, and Sr. 

 Luis Rubio, taxidermist. 



Through the intercession of Dr. A. L. Bar- 

 rows, of the National Research Council, the 

 National Geographic Society rendered financial 

 assistance which made it possible for the com- 

 mittee to enlarge the scope of its work by 

 securing the cooperation of the California 

 Academy of Sciences, represented by Mr. 

 Joseph R. Slevin, assistant curator of herpetol- 

 ogy, Mr. Frank Tose, chief taxidermist, and 

 the writer; of the San Diego Society of Nat- 

 ural History, which sent Mr. A. W. Anthony, 

 curator of vertebrates, and Mr. Ernest Hinkley, 

 assistant; and the Scripps Institution for Bio- 

 logical Research, represented by Mr. P. S. 

 Barnhart. Mr. Anthony and the writer were 

 placed in charge of the scientific investigations. 



The motor ship Tecate was admirably suited 

 to the work in hand and the success of the 

 expedition was in no small measure due to the 

 constant interest of Captain Victor Angulo 

 and his well trained crew. Everything possible 

 was done to aid the observers and collectors 

 during the five weeks in the field. 



The expedition returned to San Diego on 

 August 16, after having visited the following 

 islands: Guadalupe, San Martin, Cedros, the 

 San Benitos, Natividad, San Roque, Asuncion, 

 Magdalena and Santa Margarita. Landings 

 were also made at Ensenada, San Quintin Bay, 

 San Bartoleme Bay and Abreojos Point on the 

 Lower California peninsula. Besides making 

 colledtions at all of these places the coast line 

 was studied at close range for considerable dis- 

 tances from the vessel, particularly the bight 

 known as San Cristobal Bay, where elephant 

 seals are known to have once hauled out in 

 numbers. 



The herd of elephant seals on Guadalupe 

 Island was carefully studied and counted and, 

 although 'the results can not as yet be an- 

 nounced, it may be stated that conditions were 

 very encouraging for the perpetuation of this 

 remarkable species. Many interesting photo- 

 graphs, including motion pictures, were taken 

 of the animals. 



