64 Report of the President 



accessions may be mentioned a collection of 265 sharks and 

 other fishes from Japan, including some extremely rare forms, 

 brought together in the course of a number of years by the well- 

 known naturalist, Mr. Alan Owston, of Yokohama; a small 

 collection of freshwater fishes from Ecuador, and 30 fossil 

 sharks and Arthrodires collected by the Curator during a fort- 

 night's field work in Ohio. We are indebted, also, as in 

 previous years, to the New York Zoological Society for the gift 

 of a large number of fishes, through the New York Aquarium 

 and the New York Zoological Park. 



Early in the summer the department sent a field party to 

 the west coast of Florida for the capture of a devilfish. This is 

 _ .. the hugest of all rays and is very poorly repre- 



„ j. . sented in museums. The expedition spent 



three weeks in the field and secured two speci- 

 mens, the larger one eleven feet wide. Plaster molds of the 

 fish were made in the field and the necessary studies were 

 obtained. The specimens are now being prepared for exhibi- 

 tion. The dangerous work of harpooning the fishes is to be 

 credited to Mr. Russell J. Coles, of Danville, Va., an amateur 

 ichthyologist, who was in charge of the harpooning party. 

 The department also participated in the scientific survey of 

 Porto Rico arranged by the New York Academy of Sciences, 

 Assistant Curator Nichols spending a part of July and August 

 in Porto Rico in collecting and studying the fishes. 



In regard to the exhibits of the department, the outstand- 

 ing event was the completion of the Deep-sea Fish Group, a 



_ ^ group on a novel principle attempted for 



Deep-sea Group , * . l v T v 



, * _ the first time in a museum. It represents 



and Other , , 



ww . ten typical deep-sea fishes as they are 



supposed to appear in the darkness of the 

 profound depths, lit up only by their phosphorescent organs. 



In the general exhibit of fishes, the main effort was directed 

 to the preparation of models of sharks and rays. The aim is 

 to illustrate each of the principal families of these fishes by 

 one or more specimens modeled and painted as true to life as 

 possible. The case devoted to the skates and rays has just 

 been completed, and work on the sharks is in progress. Owing 



