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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1064' 



member the house then it had a good-sized 

 porch in front. The offices of the clerical 

 force of the commission were in a house 

 known as the Gardiner house, which stood 

 about where the entrance to the rose gar- 

 den now is. This house has since been re- 

 moved. The house occupied by Professor 

 Baird also accommodated the mess, which 

 was made up of the scientific workers and 

 the clerical force. The various members 

 of the party roomed at private houses in 

 the village. For example, in the summers 

 of 1882, 1883 and a part of 1884, four of 

 us younger men had rooms on the third 

 floor of what was then, and still is, the 

 rectory. From the windows of these rooms 

 are to be had some of the most charming 

 views of these beautiful shores. 



The residence building was first occupied 

 early in August, 1884. It then accommo- 

 dated Professor Baird 's family, the scien- 

 tific staff and the office force. The dining- 

 room easily accommodated the entire com- 

 pany, about 30, which constituted a real 

 family, of which Professor Baird was the 

 head. He and his wife and daughter, and 

 some of the older members of the scientific 

 corps, with their wives, occupied one table, 

 the other scientific workers filled another 

 table, and the clerical force a third. The 

 parlor of the residence made a general 

 meeting-place where all the members of the 

 family were accustomed to assemble in the 

 evenings. Although the habit of working 

 in the laboratory at night still continued, 

 members of the laboratory force were in 

 frequent attendance at these family gather- 

 ings. In the summer of 1886 we rented a 

 piano and installed it in the parlor, where 

 some pleasant hours were spent in singing, 

 and, on a few occasions, others were invited 

 in and there was a little dancing. 



Work on the new laboratory building 

 was in progress during the summer of 

 1884. A picture which hangs on the south 



wall of the porch room of the residence 

 gives a view of the locality where the Fish 

 Commission buildings now stand, as it ap- 

 peared in 1882. During the dredging 

 operations that preceded the construction 

 of the sea wall that encloses the basins we 

 were frequently detailed to make collections 

 of the mud-inhabiting fonns that were 

 brought up by the dredge. 



The laboratory in 1882 was, as has been 

 stated, on the lighthouse wharf on Little 

 Harbor. Ordinarily the day's work began 

 before 9 o'clock and continued until 10 or 

 11 o'clock at night. As Professor Verrill's 

 assistant my work in 1882 and 1883 was 

 especially directed to the group of Annelids. 

 Later I was promoted to investigate the 

 ancient and, to some minds, dishonorable, 

 order of Cestodes and their kindred. 



In those years there was not much syste- 

 matic collecting done along shore and in 

 shallow water, except for certain groups 

 and localities. A good deal of time was 

 taken up in the collection and study of sur- 

 face material, but the chief interest cen- 

 tered about the trips of the Fish Hawk to 

 the Gulf Stream. There were other shorter 

 trips for the purpose of exploring some 

 shallow-water localities that were very full 

 of interest to a beginner. The first trip 

 which I made was one to the northward 

 where the dredging operations began off 

 Chatham and continued to Provineetown. 

 It was on this trip that I saw for the first 

 time, in a living state, some particularly 

 large sea-anemones, and the many-armed 

 serpent-star Astrophyton. At Province- 

 town there was at that time an establish- 

 ment on the point where whale oil was tried 

 out, the whales being taken offshore and 

 brought in to the try-works. There was a 

 vast accumulation of vertebras, ribs and 

 baleen there, and the younger members of 

 the party took advantage of the opportunity 

 to make private collections, which Captain 



