176 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



The following is a statement of the amount of cataloguing done dur- 

 ing the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888 : 



ITame of group. 



Crastaceans. 

 Worms 



Bryozoans and Ascidians- -^. 



Echinoderms and Ccelenterates . 



Sponges and Protozoans . 

 Total 



Entries to 

 June 30, 



1887. 



12, 606 



3,963 



959 



2,500 



16, 183 

 5,431 

 4,955 



Entries to 



June 30, 



1888. 



13, 110 

 4,173 



960^ 

 2,5495 



16, 409 

 5, 444 ) 

 4, 973 C 



Entries made 



during the 



year. 



504 

 210 



50 



226 



31 



While at Wood's Holl, during the summer of 1887, the curator con- 

 tinued his studies upou the crustacean j^arasites of the fishes of that 

 region, completing the descriptions and drawings of several species 

 which have been submitted for publication in the proceedings of the 

 Museum. Eeports upon the genus Heliaster of starfishes, and the 

 genera Porites and Synarcea, of corals, have been finished and pubhshed 

 during the year. The curator has also found time to examine and re- 

 port upon the interesting collection of surface towings made by the 

 Fish Commission schooner Grampus during the spring of 1887, on the 

 early mackerel grounds. The study of this material, which consists 

 for the most part of very small organisms, belonging to several groups 

 of invertebrates, and constituting the food of the mackerel, was con- 

 sidered to be of considerable importauce, as changes in its abundance 

 and character from year to year, taken in connection with the changes 

 in temperature, may throw some light on the movements of that impor- 

 tant market fish, ^o general deductions can be drawn, however, from 

 the study of the collections made in one season only, but it is proposed 

 to continue the investigations during subsequent years, and a similar 

 collection was made by the Grampus in the spring of 1888. It has not 

 yet been carefully examined. 



It may not be out of place in this connection to mention the set of 

 temperature charts now in course of preparation for the Fish Commis- 

 sion, and covering long series of observations made at over seventy- 

 five stations of the Light- House Board and Signal Service. These 

 stations are distributed along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of 

 the United States and the Great Lakes, and some are located on im- 

 portant rivers. These observations are being reduced and plotted for 

 the purpose of obtaining positive information respecting the water 

 temperatures as influencing the movements of the principal commercial 

 fishes, but it is expected that they will also prove of interest in 

 connection with the study of all marine and fresh-water animals and 

 plants. 



