SEPTEMBER 6, 1918] 
of the work. The collections were mostly as- 
sorted under his supervision for distribution 
to specialists. His own studies at that time 
related to the commercial fisheries and to the 
working up of the natural history of several 
groups of invertebrates. 
During 1880 and 1881 he was employed 
upon the fishery investigations of the Tenth 
Census and reported on the natural history of, 
and the fisheries for, the commercial lobsters, 
crabs, shrimps, corals and sponges; the ma- 
rine fishing grounds of North America with 
the ocean temperatures of the Atlantic coast 
of the United States. Much of this material 
appeared in “The Fisheries and Fishery In- 
dustries of the United States,” which was pre- 
pared through the cooperation of the Com- 
missioner of Fisheries and the Superintendent 
of the Tenth Census under the direction of 
George Brown Goode. Mr. Rathbun’s contri- 
butions to these official reports amounted to 
550 quarto pages with 106 plates. 
Incidental to his work at this period was his 
association with colleagues in the gathering 
of material for the Great International Fish- 
eries Exhibition held in London in 1884. He 
prepared and described the “Collection of 
Economie Crustaceans, Worms, Echinoderms 
and Sponges ”> and he was the author of the 
“ Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection illus- 
trating the Scientific Investigation of the Sea 
and Fresh Waters.’ 
In 1891, at the request of the Secretary of 
State, he assisted John W. Foster in prepar- 
ing material for the United States case at the 
Paris fur seal tribunal. He had the services 
of several experts, and was called to report 
upon the laws of all nations relating to the 
extra-limital fisheries for whales, hair seals, 
fisheries, precious corals, pearls, beche de mer, 
ete., and also upon the distribution and habits 
of these forms. Reports of progress were 
made daily to Secretary Foster, and the more 
essential parts of the completed report were 
incorporated in the extended brief of the 
American agent. 
During the entire period of the fur seal 
6 Bull. 27, U. 8S. Nat. Mus., pp. 107-137. 
6 Idem, pp. 511-622. 
SCIENCE 
233 
inquiries Mr. Rathbun was in charge of the 
investigations, except those of the first inter- 
national commission. The steamer Alba- 
tross made yearly trips to Bering Sea with 
one or more experts, who were directed to 
study the habits of these animals, and to make 
an annual comparative record of their distri- 
bution and numbers by written notes and 
identical series of photographs. The work 
was also extended to the Russian islands. 
The most important international commis- 
sion to the Fur Seal Islands was the one 
despatched in 1896. This expedition, with 
the cooperation of the Secretary of State, was 
conducted by the Treasury Department. 
Charles S. Hamlin, then Assistant Secretary 
of the Treasury, was in immediate charge of 
the case, and Mr. Rathbun was called to be 
his chief adviser. The latter was asked to 
become the head of the American Commission, 
but, declining, was requested to nominate its 
members, which he did. Mr. Rathbun also 
prepared the instructions for the commission, 
which entered into every detail and every ac- 
cusation on the part of Canada. 
In December, 1892, Mr. Rathbun was ap- 
pointed by President Harrison as the Amer- 
ican representative on the Joint Commission 
with Great Britain to study the condition of 
the fisheries in the boundary waters between 
the United States and Canada and the sea coast 
waters adjacent to the two countries, and to 
report such measures as might be deemed nec- 
essary to insure the protection of these fisher- 
ies. No similar investigation of such magni- 
tude and importance was ever before attempted 
and four years were required for its accom- 
plishment. A large party of experts was put in 
the field on the part of the United States, and 
Canada assisted to the extent of its facilities. 
Mr. Rathbun personally visited every point of 
interest, starting with the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence, continuing through the fresh water sys- 
tems, including the Great Lakes, and ending 
at Cape Flattery at the west. The report, sub- 
mitted to the Department of State on Decem- 
ber 31, 1896, was transmitted by the President 
to Congress and printed. 
Tt had been Secretary Baird’s intention to 
