Febkuabt 12, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



243 



Field, in quest of data relating to the food 

 of the dog-fish. 



The collector, Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, 

 continued, as usual, the collection and pres- 

 ervation of fishes, fish parasites and other 

 material of biological interest. 



V. SEMINAR. 



A seminar or research club was estab- 

 lished early in the season, and thereafter 

 met weekly until near the close of the sum- 

 mer. It was thought possible that coopera- 

 tion might be profitable in certain lines of 

 work, and in general it was thought desir- 

 able that there should be some recognized 

 medium by which investigators might 

 profit by the results of one another 's work. 

 The experiment proved entirely successful 

 and the meetings were well attended. The 

 first few of these were devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of plans relating to the catalogue 

 of local fauna and flora, and to the pro- 

 posed dredging work of the Fish Hawk. 

 At the later meetings, reports were pre- 

 sented by investigators upon their work 

 at the laboratory. 



VI. CATALOGUE OF LOCAL FAUNA AND FLOKA. 



The compilation of a catalogue of the 

 fauna and flora of the region, as far as 

 known, was commenced by the director in 

 cooperation with several others. The 

 work, as projected, contemplates much 

 more than a catalogue in the sense of a 

 mere list of species. Certain data of prac- 

 tical or scientific interest are, when avail- 

 able, recorded for each of these. In order 

 to pei-mit of indefinite expansion, the whole 

 record is to be in the form of a card cata- 

 logue, having eleven cards for each species. 

 The specific name and common name {local 

 name, whenever such exists) find their 

 place on the first card ; then follow in order 

 'relative abundance,' 'geographical dis- 

 tribution' (within region catalogued, of 

 course), 'seasonal distribution,' 'habitat,' 



'reproduction' (breeding and spawning 

 season, etc.), 'food,' 'method of collecting,' 

 'economic data,' 'references' and 'remarks.' 



The first stsp in the preparation of such 

 a catalogue must consist in the sifting of 

 the various published reports and papers 

 containing the data desired. The classical 

 report of Verrill and Smith upon the in- 

 vertebrates of Vineyard Sound is, of 

 course, one of the first to be utilized, as 

 are also the numerous synopses of special 

 groups published in the 'Bulletin' of the 

 Pish Commission and elsewhere. In addi- 

 tion to these strictly faunistic papers, data 

 relevant to the present work are to be 

 found scattered through a large part of 

 the biological literature emanating from 

 Woods Hole — incidental observations on 

 spawning-time, distribution, food and the 

 like. Add to this the wealth of facts ac- 

 cumulated by Mr. Yinal Edwards, during 

 his long experience as collector for the 

 Pish Commission, and the large stock of in- 

 formation, as yet unrecorded, in possession 

 of the numerous investigators who have 

 occasion to collect material at Woods Hole. 

 This only awaits . a recognized receptacle, 

 such as it is hoped that the present cata- 

 logue may become. 



A fair start has already been made in 

 the work of compiling this catalogue, many 

 of the principal reports and synopses hav- 

 ing been abstracted, and records of about 

 750 species having been entered. In this 

 work Mr. Raymond C. Osburn cooperated 

 with the writer, and several of the tem- 

 porary assistants were engaged in the 

 clerical work involved. The notes on the 

 fishes, based upon the list prepared in 1898, 

 by Dr. H. M. Smith, and supplemented by 

 abundant data furnished by Mr. V. N. 

 Edwards, are by far the most complete. 



In this work, assistance has been 

 promised by several systematists in com- 

 piling the records relating to their respec- 

 tive groups, and the active cooperation 



