INTRODUCTION. 



The U. S. Fish Commission Steamer " Albatross " was. with the consent 

 of the President, placed at my disposal by Secretary Cortelyou of the 

 Bureau of Commerce and Labor, at the suggestion of the Hon. Geo. M. 

 Bowers, Commissioner of Fisheries. 



The area selected for this cruise of the " Albatross " included the vast 

 tract of the Eastern Pacific south of the Panamic region, explored by her 

 in 1891. This area was crossed by lines from the Galapagos to Aguja 

 Point (PI. 1), thence in a southwesterly direction, then to Callao. From 

 Callao we ran to Easter Island, then to the Galapagos, next to Manga 

 Reva, and finally to Acapulco, where our exploration ended, after having 

 steamed from Panama over a distance of more than 13,000 miles. 



From Acapulco the " Albatross " ran to San Diego, where the col- 

 lections were shipped to the Fish Commission, to be distributed to the 

 specialists who have kindly undertaken to work up the material collected 

 during her cruise. 



The collections made during the present expedition will give ample mate- 

 rial for extensive monographs on the holothurians, the siliceous sponges, the 

 cephalopods, the jelly-fishes, the pelagic crustaceans, worms, and fishes of 

 the Eastern Pacific, as well as on the bottom deposits and on the radio- 

 larians and dinoflagellates, diatoms, and other protozoans collected by the 

 tow-nets. Small collections of plants were made at Easter Island and 

 Manga Reva which may throw some light on the origin and distribution 

 of the flora of the Eastern Pacific.^ 



With one exception, the lines we ran were all well within the steaming 

 range of the " Albatross," so that the work laid out was satisfactorily car- 

 ried on. Our last line, however, from Manga Reva to Acapulco, while 

 practicable imder ordinary circumstances, proved beyond the capacity of 



^ A brief account of the progress of the expedition was sent to the Hon. Geo. M. Bowers from 

 Callao, from the Galapagos, and from Acapulco. These letters were published in the American Journal 

 of Science for February, April, and May, 190.'), and were reprinted iu the Bull. M. C. Z., Vol. XLVI, 

 No. 4, April, 1905. 



