REPORT OF DEPARTMENT OF MARINE [NVERTEBBATE8, 1!>1 



boiling. On this interesting specimen the two colors are equally dis- 

 tributed and meet along the median line of both the dorsal and ventral 

 surface's. In no place docs either color encroach upon the other, but 

 their line of deinarkation is as distinctly marked as though the speci- 

 men had been colored by hand, although it is undoubtedly a genuine 

 freak of nature. 



Dr, Edward Palmer : Sixty-five cases of Ooi -a Is. Sponges, Crustaceans, 

 and Bchinoderms from Southern Florida and the DryTortugas. This 

 is the largest collection, next to that of the Pish Commission, received 

 by this department (luring the year, and was made in the interest of 

 the Now Orleans International Exposition, through the funds appro- 

 priated for that purpose by Congress. In detailing Dr. Palmer for this 

 undertaking, it was with the intention of bringing together as exhaust- 

 ive, a collection as possible of the more important and conspicuous ani- 

 mal products of the coral-reef region of Southern Florida, which, con 

 sideriug its many interesting economic and biological features, has 

 never been properly represented hitherto, either iu the National Museum 

 collections or in connection with any of our great expositions. The re- 

 sults obtained by Dr. Palmer were eminently satisfactory, although it 

 is impossible at so early a date to make anything like a complete report 

 upon his collection. Its value is greatly enhanced by the very, full 

 notes which accompany it. It has been entirely unpacked, and all of 

 the specimens have been separately labeled, to insure their future iden- 

 tity beyond a possibility of error or confusion. The dried specimens of 

 small to medium size have been stored in unit trays (of which they till 

 about 100), temporarily arranged in the w r est hall of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The larger corals have been retained iu their original 

 cases, from which the packing materials have been removed. The Ac 

 tinian or stony corals comprise the bulk of the collection, although there 

 is a large representation of Gorgonian corals, and the number of finely 

 prepared sponges is very great. The Crustaceans and Echinoderms, of 

 which there are many specimens and species, are mainly preserved in 

 alcohol. 



Henry Hemphill: A very extensive collection of alcoholic and dried 

 specimens of marine invertebrates from the west coast of Florida, be- 

 tween Cedar Keys and Charlotte Harbor, obtained from the shore and 

 from shallow water by dredging. This collection was made with great 

 care during the winter and early spring, and consists largely of the 

 smaller forms of animal life, such as collectors seldom look for. The 

 groups mainly represented are the Crustaceans, Annelids, Echinoderms, 

 Alcyonian and Actinian corals, and sponges. Although coining from a 

 region closely bordering that visited by Dr. Palmer, this collection does 

 not in any way duplicate his, being of an entirely different character. 



The additions made to the Museum collections from the Antillean re- 

 gion during 1884, by the steamer Albatross. i>r. Palmer, and Mr. Ib-nip 



