12 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



assisted in this exploration from the interest taken in the subject 

 by Colonel Rives, the Superintendent of the Panama Railroad, to 

 whom, as well as to the President of the road, we are greatly in- 

 debted for various favors connected with his expedition. Pro- 

 fessor Hill made an extensive collection of rocks and of fossils, 

 and is now preparing a preliminary report on the results. 



During the past winter I spent a couple of weeks along the 

 Florida Keys on a sea-going tug to re-examine them in the light of 

 the experience I had gained in the study of the Bahama and Cuban 

 reefs and of the Bermudas. A preliminary note on the results was 

 published in the " American Journal of Science " from a letter 

 written to the late Professor J. D. Dana. I was fortunate enough 

 to obtain, thanks to the kind offices of Mr. Peter A. Williams of Key 

 West, samples taken at every 25 feet of the core of an Artesian 

 well driven on Key West Island from the surface to a depth of 2,000 

 feet. These samples have been placed for examination in the hands 

 of Mr. E. 0. Hovey and Mr. George H. Eldridge, of the U. S. Geo- 

 logical Survey, and I hope to add to my own report of this last 

 exploration of the Florida Keys the results obtained by Messrs. 

 Hovey and Eldridge. The Director of the U. S. Geological Sur- 

 vey has kindly consented to have an analysis made of the samples 

 obtained, and Mr. Eldridge hopes to make a comparison of the 

 core of the Key West well with those of Lake Worth, St. Augus- 

 tine, and Tallahassee. It is thought that this examination may 

 give us accurate results regarding the thickness of the Florida 

 Reef, and the nature and age of the rocks upon which it rests. 



In connection with the various expeditions undertaken by 

 the Museum, I have to thank Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. 

 Hydrographer, and Colonel Duffield, the Superintendent of the 

 U. S. Coast Survey, for assistance and suggestions. 



Among the collections received I may mention that of the Deep- 

 Sea Fishes made by the " Blake," which had been in the hands of 

 Professor Goode and Dr. Bean while they were preparing their 

 Memoir on the Deep-Sea Fish Fauna of the Western Atlantic, now 

 in press. Dr. Goes has also sent back the Foraminifera of the 

 " Albatross " Expedition of 1891, and the material from the- Carib- 

 bean Sea belonging to the Coast Survey and to the Fish Commis- 

 sion, which had been sent him for comparison, has been returned 

 to the Smithsonian (with a named collection of types) and to the 

 Coast Survey. 



