REPORT ON THE DEPARTMENT OF MARINE INVERTEBRATES IN THE 

 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1886. 



By Richard Rathbun, Curator 



The total number of accessions received by this department; daring 

 the past year was 48, of which the most important were contributed by 

 the U. S. Fish Commission. The explorations of the steamer Albatross, 

 elsewhere described in this report, extended from the eastern edge of 

 the Grand Bank of Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico, and iuto 

 a depth of 2,731 fathoms, large collections of marine animals having 

 been made in all parts of this region. The collections obtained during 

 the summer and early fall months were assorted and partly classified 

 at the Wood's Holl station of the Commission, and the material sent 

 from there to Washington filled over 1,300 packages of all sizes, many 

 containing a large number of species each and hundreds of specimens. 

 On the return trip to Washington, in October, the Albatross engaged in 

 dredging and fishing off the Atlantic coast of the Southern States, be- 

 tween Cape Hatteras and Savannah, and 190 packages of unassorted 

 marine invertebrates were brought directly to the National Museum. 

 During the last part of the winter and the spring of 1886 the same 

 steamer made a combined sounding and dredging voyage to the region 

 of the Bahamas, the Gulf Stream oft* Florida, and the eastern part of 

 the Gulf of Mexico, returning with about 400 packages of specimens 

 belonging to this department. Twenty of these packages were large 

 tanks and barrels, containing a multitude of choice objects from both 

 deep and shallow water. Eeports upon the zoological results of these 

 explorations are now in progress, but it would be impossible, in a few 

 words, to describe even the general character of the materials obtained. 



Mr. Y. N. Edwards, who is stationed at Wood's Holl, Mass., in the 

 employ of the Fish Commission, during the entire year has continued 

 to send in valuable collections made during those months when the 

 sea-shore is seldom visited by naturalists. Many interesting specimens 

 of fresh-water crustaceans and annelids, representing four distinct river 

 basins in the northern part of Virginia, have been contributed by Col. 

 Marshall McDonald, of the same Commission. His collections were 

 accompanied by full notes, including temperature observations, afford- 



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