Januaey 10, 1902 ] 



SCIENCE. 



59 



' The Nemerteans of the Region ' : Dr. 

 W. R. Cob. 



' The Opisthobranch Molluscs of the 

 Region': Peofessoe T. D. A. Cockerell. 



' Classification and Distribution of the 

 gastropod and bivalve MoUusca ' : Pro- 

 fessor J. W. Raymond and Mrs. Ida Old- 

 royd. 



' Speciographic and Anatomical Studies 

 on Bryozoa': Miss Alice Robertson. 



' The decapod and amphipod Crus- 

 tacea': Dr. S. J. Holmes. 



' The Enteropneusta, Studies on Anat- 

 omy and Habits ' : Professor "Wm. E. 



RlTTER. 



' The Ascidians of the Region ' : Pro- 

 fessor Wm. E. Ritter. 



' Experimental Studies on the Fertiliza- 

 tion of Ciona ' : Dr. F. "W. Bancroft and 

 Miss Etheltyn Foote. 



' Experimental Studies on the Heart 

 Action of Ciona': Dr. F. W. Bancroft 

 and Mr. C. 0. Esterly. 



' Selection in the Mortality of Ilippa 

 due to the Peridinium Visitation ' : Dr. F. 

 "W. Bancroft. 



some of the scientific results of the 

 summer's work. 



Hydrographic. — On this side it is not 

 felt that the data collected are sufficient in 

 quantity to warrant any statement about 

 them in a preliminary report, beyond the 

 mere presentation given above, of what was 

 done. 



Geological-Biological.— Ihe observations 

 made corroborating the view that Santa 

 Catalina Island has recently been under- 

 going subsidence have already been pub- 

 lished in this journal, October 11, 1901, p. 

 575, and need not be repeated. 



Special interest, from the biological side, 

 was attached to the exploration of the 

 peculiar ' submarine valleys ' that are so 

 characteristic a feature of the coast of Cali- 

 fornia, Lower California and Mexico. As, 



however, a complete study of them will 

 lead into deeper water (at their seaward 

 ends into at least eight hundred fathoms*) 

 than we were this year fitted to penetrate, 

 and will go beyond the limits to which 

 detailed soundings have been carried by 

 the Coast and Geodetic Survey, our obser- 

 vations are yet too few and fragmentary to 

 warrant any general conclusions.. Two 

 points may, however, be mentioned as 

 having been brought out by our work. 

 First, that the bottom deposits of some, at 

 least, of the valleys, for example that at 

 Redondo, even at the distance of several 

 miles from shore, are of a character to 

 prove that close inshore material is carried 

 into them in large quantities. Shore-worn 

 shells of strictly littoral, and even fresh- 

 water species; fragments of drift-wood; 

 kelp hold-fasts, of which none grow in the 

 immediate vicinity, etc., were taken in 

 abundance by the dredge, f Second, vari- 

 ous species of deep-water fishes, crustaceans 

 and molluscs were taken much nearer shore 

 in these valleys than elsewhere. 



The first mentioned observation sug- 

 gests, though of course does not prove, that 

 the valleys are natural channels through 

 which currents flow, at times at least, from 

 the shore out to deeper water. 



*Tlie U. S. S. Albatross, surveying the Mon- 

 terey submerged valley with a view to its possible 

 termination for a transpacific cable, found 868 

 fathoms sixteen and one half miles from shore. 



t Professor Davidson gives something on the 

 character of the bottom in most of the valleys, 

 as determined, presumably, by the soundings. 

 This method cannot be relied upon for the de- 

 tection of such deposits as are here described. 

 It is a suggestive fact, however, that the author 

 mentions, in connection with the Cape Mendocino 

 submerged valley, that "the valley itself has green 

 mud, and yet in two places at depths of three hun- 

 dred and twenty fathoms broken shells were 

 brought up with gravel." ('The Submerged 

 Valleys of the Coast of California, U. S. A., and 

 of Lower California and Mexico,' Proc. Calif. 

 Acad. ScL, 3d ser., Geol., Vol. I., No. 2, 1897.) 



