570 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. No. 537. 



and terns were brought back and studied 

 in confinement for some weeks. 



B. "NV. Kunkel, graduate student, Yale 

 University, collected and carried on a pre- 

 liminary study of the brains of eighteen 

 species of elasmobranclis and teleosts of 

 the locality, devoting his principal atten- 

 tion to the epiphysis. 



Edwin Linton, Ph.D., professor of biol- 

 ogy, Washington and Jefferson College, 

 was engaged, on behalf of the bureau, (1) 

 in working over a collection of entozoa 

 from fish and fish-eating birds made by Mr. 

 Vinal Edwards from September, 1903, to 

 June, 1904, and contained in 300 vials; (2) 

 in working over material collected during 

 the current season by himself and an assist- 

 ant, special attention being devoted to cer- 

 tain eestode parasites which were found in 

 great numbers in the butter-fish {Rhombus 

 triacanthus) . 



Lillian J. MacRae, teacher in South Bos- 

 ton High School, assisted Dr. Davis in the 

 work of collecting and identifying marine 

 algas. 



W. J. ]\Ioenkhaus, Ph.D., associate pro- 

 fessor of physiology, Indiana University, 

 repeated certain experiments of previous 

 years in order to obtain material for fur- 

 ther study of the behavior of chromatin 

 in hybrids. The following crosses were 

 made: (1) Fundulus heteroclitus 5 X 

 Gasierosteus hispinosus J*, (2) Fundulus 

 lieteroclilus $ X Stenotomus chrysops J*, 

 (3) Fundidus majalis 5 X heteroclitus 

 J", (4) F'undxdus majalis 5 X Tautogolab- 

 rus adspcrsus ^. An attempt to fertilize 

 Fundulus eggs with the sperm of Opsanus 

 tau was unsuccessful. 



J. Percy Moore, Ph.D., instructor in zool- 

 ogy. University of Pennsylvania, made con- 

 siderable progress with the synopsis of 

 annelids of the Woods Hole region which 

 he is engaged in preparing {-n behalf of 



the bureau, completing the families of 

 Polynoidae and Nereidse, and drafting de- 

 scriptions of species belonging to other 

 families. The determination of the rela- 

 tions of the various sexual phases of the 

 species of the latter family being a matter 

 of considerable difBeulty, the collection of 

 suitable material for this purpose consumed 

 much time. The life history of Platynereis 

 megalops proved to be quite as complex as 

 that of the classical P. Dumerilii, present- 

 ing, however, some important differences. 

 With the exception of Nereis arenaceode)i- 

 tata, heter.onereids of all the species have 

 been found. An additional new species of 

 Nereis was also discovered. The Poljoioidae 

 and other scaly polychceta are of well- 

 known species, though several new to the 

 region have been found. The large felted 

 polychjBte, commonly called the 'sea mouse,' 

 of American waters, has always been iden- 

 tified with the European Aphrodite acu- 

 leata. A careful study of specimens taken 

 off Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard show 

 that the species occurring there is quite 

 distinct. The dredging operations con- 

 nected with the biological survey resulted 

 in large collections of polych^eta, the de- 

 termination and recording of which re- 

 quired much time. Besides adding several 

 forms to the know^n fauna of the region, 

 the most interesting of which is the remark- 

 able Spiochcetopterus oculatus, this work 

 has added greatly to our knowledge of the 

 local distribution of certain species. 



Max Morse, fellow in zoology, Columbia 

 University, assisted in the work of the 

 biological survey, as well as in biometric 

 studies carried on by Dr. Sumner. 



Raymond C. Osburn, teacher of biologj^ 

 New York High School of Commerce, as- 

 sisted in the work of the biological sur.vey, 

 having supervision of the dredging opera- 

 tions of the Phalarope. 



