134 EEPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



biological laboratory were also occupied by Prof. S. F. Clarke, of Wil- 

 liams College, Prof. E. B. Wilson, of Bryn Mawr College, and Mr. 

 Bruce, of Johns Hopkins University. Mr. James E. Benedict and Mr. 

 Thomas Lee rendered services on shore when the Albatross was in port, 

 and Mr. Vinal N. Edwards, who is stationed at Wood's Holl the entire 

 year, was always on hand for collecting and the preparation of large 

 specimens. Mr. S. E. Meek was employed at Fulton Market, New 

 York, during the summer and fall, in collecting the parasites of fish, 

 which are now being studied by several specialists. 



It is fitting that mention should be made in this connection of the 

 death of one of the most valued members of our party. Capt. Hubbard 

 C. Chester, well known as the executive officer of Hall's Polaris expe- 

 dition to the Arctic regions, and the rescuer of the ship's crew, drifted 

 from the land on the ice-floe bearing the ill-fated steamer, joined the 

 Fish Commission in 1874, the year in which the writer first entered the 

 same service. His duties were varied, and were always performed in 

 the same thorough and conscientious manner, which brought success to 

 all his undertakings. On the smaller steamers, before the Albatross was 

 built, he was generally in charge of the dredging manipulations, and it 

 was scarcely deemed auspicious to go to sea without him. After the 

 completion of the new station at Wood's Holl, he became its superintend- 

 ent, and so continued to the time of his death. He was thus brought 

 again in intimate relations with the investigating party, but from that 

 time on his attention was mainly directed toward improving the methods 

 of marine fish culture, and the appliances of his invention are now ex- 

 clusively employed in the hatching of cod and lobsters. He had been 

 ailing more or less since the winter of 1878-'79, when he suffered from a 

 severe attack of pneumonia, and died July 19, 1887, after a short but 

 painful illness. His death brought sorrow to many friends. 



No other branch of the Government besides the Fish Commission has 

 such excellent opportunities for increasing the stores of this department 

 of the Museum as the naval service, and scarcely a year passes without 

 important contributions from that source. The U. S. S. Thetis, which 

 left Norfolk, Virginia, for Alaska, in May last, in charge of Lieut. W. 

 H. Emory, U. S. Navy, received a complete dredging oufit from the Fish 

 Commission, at the solicitation of her commanding officer, who promises 

 to devote much time to the collecting of marine specimens. The coast 

 along which he will cruise has never been explored below a depth of 

 about 50 fathoms, and as it is Lieutenant Emory's intention to work 

 mainly between that depth and 200 fathoms, very valuable results may 

 be expected, both for the fisheries and for science. 



Lieut. J. F. Moser, IT. S. Navy, in command of the Coast Survey 

 steamer Bache, which has been sounding in the shallow waters of the 

 Florida coast, in the neighborhood of Cedar Keys, and between Cape 

 Roman and Cape Sable, found time, during the last spring, to do 

 considerable dredging with very successful results. His outfit was 



