Mat 21, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



743 



anemone, and this particular sea-anemone 

 was not seen except as a commensal of tMs 

 particular species of hermit crab. Other 

 cases of commensalism between sea-anem- 

 ones and crabs were encountered, but none 

 in which the commensals were so faithful 

 to each other as in this. 



The material of a haul having been eared 

 for, some of it assorted, labeled and placed 

 in proper preserving fluid, some of it kept 

 In sea-water to be brought alive to the labo- 

 ratory, we quickly relapsed into that condi- 

 tion of indifference to all things, past, pres- 

 ent and to come, which characterizes alike 

 the sea-sick and the aspirants to Nirvana. 

 From this apathetic state we aroused less 

 and less completely as the day wore on. 

 On one or two trying occasions when a 

 heavy swell rocked the Fish Hawk in its 

 glassy cradle, much of the material in the 

 last haul, in spite of its great value from 

 the point of view of those who desired an 

 accurate knowledge of the life on the ocean 

 floor, was huddled together and brought 

 back to the laboratory in much the same 

 condition in which it was scraped from the 

 bottom by the trawl. 



Before the trawl was put overboard a 

 sounding was made. This was done by 

 means of an ingenious machine invented by 

 Captain Sigsbee of the navy. Instead of 

 the hempen cord of the older machines fine 

 piano wire was employed. A thermometer 

 was also sent down with the sounding lead, 

 the case in which it was enclosed being 

 fastened securely at the lower end, while 

 the upper end was held to the wire by a de- 

 tachable clamp which was loosed by a lead 

 traveler sent down the wire. This tripped 

 the thermometer, which, in turning over, 

 broke the column of mercury in a bend of 

 the tube, so that the mercury in the filiform 

 portion of the tube remained and could be 

 read in the reversed instrument when it 

 reached the surface. Specimens of the bot- 



tom were also obtained. Thus each sound- 

 ing yielded data of depth, temperature and 

 character of the bottom. Now and then 

 temperatures at different depths in the same 

 locality were taken. The bottom was 

 largely a soft foraminiferal ooze into which 

 the trawl sank, the net sometimes bring- 

 ing up a large mass of mud, in spite of its 

 having traversed a hundred fathoms or 

 more of clean sea-water on its way to the 

 surface. Occasionally a boulder of fair 

 size was captured, and on more than one 

 occasion the load was too heavy for the net. 

 What came to the surface then was a broken 

 net with, at most, a few small starfishes and 

 serpent-stars clinging to its sides. At such 

 times the comments of Captain Tanner re- 

 sembled some of the more lurid passages in 

 the novels of Captain Maryatt. 



Most of the dredging work of the Fish 

 Hawk on the Gulf Stream was done with a 

 beam trawl. The lower end of the net was 

 kept on the bottom by means of leaden 

 weights, while the net itself was buoyed 

 up with hollow balls of thick glass. Some- 

 times these balls, which were empty when 

 they were started down, came to the surface 

 with water inside. This appears to be due 

 to the extreme pressure which forced water 

 through minute openings in the glass. 



In addition to the bottom work some at- 

 tention was given to the collecting of sur- 

 face material by means of towing nets and 

 dip nets. Specimens of the Portuguese 

 man-of-war and other Siphonophora were 

 frequently taken as well as Hippocampus 

 and various other forms found in the float- 

 ing gulf-weed. Sharks also were sometimes 

 taken, and, on one trip I remember, three 

 or four porpoises were harpooned. This 

 latter, however, was rather by way of diver- 

 sion and did not enter into the more seri- 

 ous work of the trips. 



About sundown the dredging was dis- 

 continued; the ship's course was laid for 



