WIIXIAM KEITH BROOKS — CONKUN 



tory was that year moved from Beaufort into the Chesapeake Bay, and 

 we occupied a building which we rented from the Normal School at 

 Hampton, Va. As Hampton proved to be a very unfavorable place for 

 our work we returned to Beaufort the next year, and we have accord- 

 ingly spent five seasons at Beaufort. 



During the season of 1886 the zoological students of the University 

 were stationed at three widely separated points of the seacoast A party 

 of seven under my direction visited the Bahama Islands, two were at 

 Beaufort, and one occupied the University table at the station of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission at Woods Hole. 



The party which visited the Bahamas consisted of seven persons, and 

 our expedition occupied two months, about half of this being consumed 

 by the journey. 



The season which is most suitable for our work ends in July, and we 

 had hoped to reach the Islands in time for ten or twelve weeks of work 

 there, but the difficulty which I experienced in my attempts to obtain a 

 proper vessel delayed us in Baltimore, and as we met with many delays 

 after we started, we were nearly three weeks in reaching our destination. 



We stopped at Beaufort to ship our laboratory outfit and furniture, 

 but the vessel, a schooner of 49 tons, was so small that all the available 

 space was needed for our accommodation, and we were forced to leave 

 part of our outfit behind at Beaufort. 



We reached our destination, Green Turtle Key, on June 2d, and re- 

 mained there until July 1st. The fauna proved to be so rich and varied 

 and so easily accessible that we were able to do good work, notwith- 

 standing the shortness of our stay and the very primitive character of 

 our laboratory. This was a small dwelling house which we rented. It 

 was not very well adapted for our purposes, and we occupied as lodgings 

 the rooms which we used as work rooms. 



RECORD OF THE VARIOUS SESSIONS. 



For the following brief records of the various sessions of the 

 Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory I am indebted in large part 

 to Prof. E. A. Andrews : 



1878: 8 weeks, Ft. Wool, Virginia; 7 members. Brooks studied em- 

 bryology of Lingula. 



1879: June 25 — August 8, Crisfield, Maryland; 11 members. Brooks 

 studied the oyster. Three barges served as laboratory and 

 quarters. Swarms of mosquitos led to the abandonment of this 

 locality early in August, and the removal of the laboratory to 

 Ft. Wool, until September 15. 



1880: April 23 — September 30, Beaufort, North Carolina; 6 members. 

 Laboratory and quarters were in the Gibbs house. A steam 

 launch was bought and the laboratory equipped by means of an 

 appropriation from the University. 



51 



