NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



39 



of its relations glistens in a spiny 

 armor as white as ivory. In and 

 out among these caves flash the 

 tropic fishes, on which the sea god 

 has lavished the most vivid colors 

 of his palette — intense blue and 

 silvery white and gold, and tur- 

 quoise; and some of these dwellers 

 in his secret halls even gleam like 

 mother-of-pearl, with all the col- 

 ors of the rainbow. 

 | But useless would it be to at- 

 tempt to appropriately picture 

 forth the wealth and beauty of 

 these hidden wonders. 



A few years ago the student got 

 his knowledge of these marine 

 forms from musty text-books brist- 

 ling with names often as meaning- 

 less as unpronounceable. Later 

 he had the advantage of dried and 

 alcoholic specimens. But it was 

 not until very recently that an ef- 

 fort was made to give him an op- 

 portunity to study these most beau- 

 tiful and wonderful forms of life in 

 their native homes. 



Prof. C. C. Nutting, of the chair 

 of systematic zoology at Iowa 

 State University, had twice before 

 crossed the rich zoological waters 

 around the Bahamas, and it was 

 then that occurred to him the plan 

 which the summer of 1893 finally 

 saw realized. 



The Emily E. Johnson, a two- 

 masted schooner, 96 feet long, 

 tonnage 115 tons, was chartered of 

 its owner, Captain C. C. Paul, of 

 Baltimore, for three months for 

 the use of the "Bahama Expedition 

 of the State University of Iowa," 

 which had for its object the "care- 

 ful and systematic investigation of 

 the marine fauna and flora around 

 the Florida keys and Bahamas." 

 The schooner was rapidly trans- 

 formed into a dwelling vessel and 

 floating laboratory. 



A huge skylighted hatch was cut 

 in the hold, and the hold itself fit- 

 ted up to serve at once as sleeping 

 apartments for the gentlemen of 

 the party, as dining room, and as 

 laboratory. 



A double tier of extemporized 

 bunks lined either wall, long oil- 

 cloth-covered tables and camp- 

 chairs occupied the center space, 

 and a complete scientific library 

 and laboratory supplies, including 

 microscopes, chemicals, dissecting 

 apparatus, etc., occupied shelves 

 at one end. Provisions were stor- 

 ed in the forepart of the hold. 



On deck was placed the hoisting 

 apparatus, which was worked by 

 hand and provided with 300 fath- 

 oms of wire rope. There was no 

 steam aboard. The vessel had 

 been chosen for its fitness to ride 



the shallow waters about the keys 

 and islands. 



Charles Flowers, of Baltimore, 

 was engaged as captain and George 

 Merrill was mate. Three sailors, 

 a cook (all as black as the ace of 

 spades J, and a saffron-hued mulat- 

 to waiting boy comprised the crew. 



The party itself was composed 

 of twenty-one members (of which 

 were ladies), and included profes- 

 sors, instructors, alumni, and stu- 

 dents of Iowa State University, 

 Professor Nutting being the leader. 

 Gilbert L. Honser, instructor in 

 biology, was the photograper, and 

 many beautiful pictures were tak- 

 en. 



All were interested in science 

 and each was supposed to be es- 

 pecially interested in some partic- 

 ular branch of science. All had 

 applied voluntarily for member- 

 ship in the party. The university 

 furnished all appliances for dredg- 

 ing, for preserving materials, and 

 for study. In addition, each mem- 

 ber paid $200, which covered all 

 expenses incurred by the party col- 

 lectively, including car fare from 

 Iowa City to Baltimore and return, 

 with "stop-offs" at Washington 

 and the World's Fair, in addition 

 to our life aboard the vessel for 

 three months. It is estimated that 

 we traveled by land and sea some 

 6000 miles. 



On May 5, 1893, we left Balti- 

 more in our floating summer home 

 and laboratory. 



Seven days later we anchored 

 in the harbor of Egg Island, Baha- 

 mas. Here we made a marvelous 

 collection in the shallow waters 

 and on land. Our deck was strewn 

 with sea-fans and gorgonias. 

 There were great tubs of rattling 

 crabs and star fish and sea urchins, 

 and buckets of mollusks. The or- 

 nithologist and entomologist had 

 captured strange birds and "bugs," 

 the first prize of the latter being 

 that curious luminous beetle worn 

 by the Cuban ladies as a glowing 

 ornament for the hair or to catch 

 the lace of their mantillas. The 

 botanists had their cans full and 

 running over with tropic vegeta- 

 tion, from the passion flower to 

 our own familiar shepherd's purse 

 and sand bun-; and there were pans 

 full of floating algae, '.'sea mosses." 

 But it would take volumes to give 

 an adequate idea of the spoils. 



From here we sailed for Havanna, 

 spent a few days exploring the 

 city, and just outside the harbor 

 dredged for that exceedingly rare 

 animal form until lately supposed 

 to be extinct, viz. , the crinoid, ge- 

 nus Pentacrinus. We found fully 



150 beautiful and perfect speci- 

 mens. 



Bahia Honda, thirty miles furth- 

 er along the western coast of Cuba, 

 next claimed our attention. The 

 Spanish authorities, however, took 

 us for a filibustering expedition, 

 and forbade us to go more than 30 

 feet from the water line. The 

 mosquitoes also waged war against 

 us, and we turned toward Key 

 West. 1 



Here, too, however, we were for- 

 bidden to land, as a vessel clearing 

 from a Cuban port during the quar- 

 antine season must either lie fif- 

 teen days at sea or go to the Dry 

 Tortugas and be fumigated. 



Accordingly we chose the Dry 

 Tortugas, and made many valuable 

 collections, both by dredging and 

 in shallow waters around the keys. 

 Here we procured our first shark 

 and investigated the coral reefs. 



Returning to Key West, we 

 dredged in the vicinity some three 

 weeks. In deep sea dredging we 

 used a common oyster dredge, a 

 trawl, and a tangle bar. This last 

 was especially useful in procuring 

 the finer materials. It was merely 

 a horizontal bar of iron, with great 

 masses of raveled manila hemp 

 rope tied to it, and in its meshes 

 were caught a tangle of basket fish, 

 crabs, sea urchins, deep sea algae, 

 and so on. 



Clearing from Key West, we 

 sailed for Harbor Island, Spanish 

 Wells, and Eleuthera, Bahamas, 

 and after a hasty run to Little San 

 Salvador, or Cat Island, we had to 

 turn northward, as we were due at 

 Baltimore August 1. 



The whole summer had been 

 one delightful round of novelty 

 and surprises. To one scientifi- 

 cally inclined it was an opportu- 

 nity for careful study and investi- 

 gation, such as has heretofore been 

 enjoyed only by specialists in gov- 

 ernment employ. The knowledge 

 gained in actually seeing and 

 studying these curious life forms 

 in their native element was of more 

 practical value than the perusal of 

 whole libraries of monographs, or 

 years of study of museum speci- 

 mens. 



Then the trip offered, as well, 

 glimpses of the customs and peo- 

 ples of strange countries under the 

 rule of three different powers. Cu- 

 ba is Spanish, Key West and the 

 keys are Uncle Sam's southern- 

 most possessions, and the Baha- 

 mas are English. It was a study 

 in comparative sociology. The 

 trip Tras opened new avenues to 

 educators; new possibilities to stu- 

 dents, and to scientists, we feel 



