682 RECORDS. 



During the process of excavation for the ship canal across New 

 York Island at about 12 2d Street there were found extensive peat 

 remains on the side of the Harlem River, together with sunken 

 logs, which suggested the conditions just referred to on Staten 

 Island. During the canal work, a number of specimens were 

 brought to the speaker for examination. The first of these finds 

 was a number of bits of mastodon tusk, which the workmen had 

 hoped might prove of commercial value. The residue of this 

 find, in the form of poorly preserved bones, had been thrown 

 away. There were subsequently brought for examination bones 

 of the following animals: deer, fox, seal, beaver (jaw), and 

 turtle. 



Professor Bristol reported upon the third New York Uni- 

 versity Expedition to Bermuda which left New York on May 

 27th, via the Quebec Steamship Company's steamer "Orinoco." 

 The last members to return arrived on August ist. The party 

 consisted of Professor C. L. Bristol, Messrs. F. W. Carpenter, 

 C. E. Brush, Jr., F. Erdwurm, of the graduating class ; Messrs. 

 Hill, Magnus and Wooley of the present Junior class, and Mr. 

 A. Benton Muller. 



The reconnoissance work of the two former years was con- 

 tinued from White's Island in Hamilton Harbor as headquarters. 

 The buildings on the islands afforded far better facilities for lab- 

 oratory work than was obtained on the other trips, and also 

 brought the party nearer to the south shore and the Great 

 Sound. An important feature was a series of pools constructed 

 above tide level and supplied with plenty of running sea-water, 

 in which a day's " catch " could be examined alive at leisure. 

 A naphtha launch and a small yacht gave the necessary facilities 

 for collecting. The principal work was reconnoissance and 

 many new forms were found among the Crustacea, Echinoderms, 

 Coelenterates, Tunicates and Mollusca. Perhaps the most impor- 

 tant single trip was that made to North Rock, an isolated frag- 

 ment of the old atoll-shaped reef, about nine miles out at sea. At 

 dead low tide a small area is laid bare but almost awash, and at- 

 tainable only in the smoothest of water. Here the life of the ocean 

 swarms and offers rare opportunities i'or stud}^ As in the former 



