514 
of Puget Sound, we decided to go to Alaska 
as soon as possible and to stay there as 
long as favorable results could be expected. 
We looked forward to this trip with great 
expectations, for every one had spoken of 
the richness of the fauna in Sitka harbor, 
where the water is more shallow than in 
Puget Sound and from six to ten degrees 
warmer. Furthermore, through the kind 
agency of Captain Young, of the Marine 
Barracks at Sitka, Captain Symonds, of the 
warship ‘ Pinta,’ had offered us the use of 
one of the Pinta’s steam launches for dredg- 
ing purposes. Everything, therefore, seemed 
more favorable for good collecting than at 
Port Townsend. 
In the meantime the excursion to Port 
Orchard was planned and executed. Port 
Orchard lies across Puget Sound from 
Seattle and consists of several bays con- 
nected by deep channels of swiftly running 
water characteristic of this inland sea. In 
some of the pockets in these bays the tides 
are so little felt that the water is practically 
still and considerably warmer than the outer 
waters. 
The swift water of the channels promised 
good dredging, but unfortunately we took 
with us our lightest dredge which was 
practically useless in the current; one 
fine brachiopod (Terebratulina) alone could 
hardly console us in our disappointment. 
The best results were obtained on shore, 
where Mr. Griffin found quantities of Tycho- 
dera (a genus of Enteropneusta), while hy- 
droids of many kinds were as characteristic 
as their absence at Port Townsend. We 
left Port Orchard with the intention of re- 
turning in August, when, with a heavier 
dredge, we might expect better results. 
The trip to Sitka offered few chances for 
zoological work. Happening to reach Fort 
Wrangle, however, at low tide, two of the 
party found a number of fine specimens of 
Echiurus, a form which we had not found in 
Puget Sound. Ona previous trip to Alas- 
SCIENCE. 
[N. 8. Vou. VI. No. 144. 
ka, Mr. Calkins had found a large num- 
ber of ice worms (Dendrobena) on the top of 
Muir Glacier. Although these interesting 
forms have been repeatedly described, this 
is the first time they had been found on the 
Alaska glaciers. They were most numerous 
in the clear water of pools in hollows of the 
ice, although in many cases they were found 
deeply imbedded in the solid ice, which 
had to be shaved down before the animals 
could be reached. This year the ascent of 
the glacier was not only extremely difficult, 
but, owing to the disappearance of the ice 
bridge, it was impossible to get on the top of 
the clear ice as last year. We accordingly 
found comparatively few ice worms. 
We reached Sitka July 14th, with the loss 
of one package of collecting tools, which had 
been dropped overboard at Port Townsend 
during careless handling of the freight. 
These tools were fished out and sent to us 
by the next boat. A small house by the 
water was soon fitted with shelves and 
made into a somewhat cramped but con- 
venient laboratory. We were much disap- 
pointed to find that the ‘ Pinta,’ having 
been ordered south to the repair shops, ‘had 
indeed left her steam launches, but with no 
one to run them. There was no other 
steam launch available, and all dredging, 
therefore, had to be abandoned, save such 
as could be ineffectually done with a sail 
boat. This deprivation was much more 
serious than any we had yet encountered, 
for we soon found that Sitka harbor itself 
is poorly adapted for good dredging, having 
an extremely rough, rocky bottom. The 
good dredging grounds, 7. e., bays with 
sandy bottoms, such as Silver Bay, Crab 
Bay, ete., were too far away to be reached 
by sail boat, although a launch could have 
made the round trip comfortably in one 
day. We were thus forced to confine our 
attention to low-water collecting. In this 
we were very successful. The tides ran 
out for a considerable distance, leaving 
