DEPARTMENT OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES. 177 



There have been several collaborators of the Museum located at 

 other institutions as in former years. Prof. A. E. Verrill, at Tale 

 College, has continued his studies upon several groups of marine in- 

 vertebrates from the dredgings of the Fish Commission, on the eastern 

 coast of the United States, and has been assisted by Miss K. J. Bush. 

 Prof. S. I. Smith, also of Yale College, has been at work upon the 

 Crustacea derived from the same source. Prof. Edwin Linton, of 

 Washington and Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, has made rapid prog- 

 ress with his studies of the Trematode parasites of fishes, mainly 

 collected by himself at the Wood's Holl Station, being assisted in the 

 preparation of his plates by Mrs. Linton. A second large report upon 

 the subject was nearly completed at the close of the year. Prof. Leslie 

 A. Lee's work upon the foraminifera of the Fish Commission has been 

 deferred for a time, in consequence of his acting as chief naturalist of 

 the steamer Albatross during the cruise from Norfolk to San Francisco. 

 Mr. J. Walter Fewkes, of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cam- 

 bridge, has continued to report upon the free Medusae collected by the 

 Albatross. 



As it has been the custom hitherto to transfer most of the natural his- 

 tory collections made by the vessels and field parties of the Fish Com- 

 mission directly to the custody of the i^ational Museum, where they 

 could be safely cared for without additional expense to the Commission, 

 it has been deemed appropriate to give in each of these annual reports 

 a brief account of the explorations in the course of which the materials 

 were obtained. As recording the origin and general character of the 

 specimens made available for scientific study by the investigations of 

 the Commission, these accounts, it was supposed, could not fail to be of 

 interest and value to those who desired to consult the collections. 

 During the past fiscal year, with the death of Professor Baird and the 

 placing of the National Museum and the Fish Commission under separate 

 management, the policy of the Commission with respect to its collections 

 of marine animals has been modified, and they will be retained in its 

 possession until finally worked up and described. The first or principal 

 series of specimens will then, however, become the property of the 

 Museum, and the expediency of reporting upon the explorations in this 

 connection seems therefore as urgent as before. 



The steamer Albatross was prevented, in consequence of the exten- 

 sive preparations necessary for her cruise to the Pacific Ocean, from en- 

 gaging in any investigations before the middle of September, and at 

 that time only a single trip was attempted between Chesapeake Bay 

 and Wood's Boll. This trip was also planned practically for the purpose 

 of testing her new boilers, but during the voyage a line of twelve dredg- 

 ings with the beam trawl was successfully made in depths of 102 to 1,276 

 fathoms, along the outer edge of the submerged continental plateau and 

 the inner part of the Gulf Stream. The collections obtained were landed 

 and examined at Wood's Holl, and in the fall were sent in part to the 

 H. Mis. 142, pt. 2 12 



