2 
Sipeo'iKtens 
250 in&ividual^^^., representing about 60 different species# were brought 
The larger game fish are most inadequately represented in ichthy- 
ological collections throughout the world, not so much for want of facilities 
for storing them, as because of the difficulties attendant upon their preserva- 
tion at the time of capture and their transport to their final resting place, 
which in the past necessitated large and often unwieldy tanks and almost un- 
manageable quantities of preserving fluid* Aboard the HOUSTON, however, it 
was a relatively simple task to place the specimens desired by the Museum in 
the large cold storage freezers of the ship, and then, on arrival in port, to 
pack them with dry ice in wooden packing cases, suitably insulated with 
corrugated paper, for safe shipment to Washington* The fish were unpacked 
there still hard frozen * When thawed out in tanks of tap water, they returned 
to practically the identical fresh condition in which they had been placed in 
cold storage* Many of the fish still retained much of their original colora- 
tion, having apparently undergone little or no change from the time they were 
brought aboard ship* This is but one of many instances in which a large ship 
with ample facilities of all kinds can render science inestimable service* 
The HOUSTON is a full six hundred feet in length* Her full comple- 
ment totals over J00 men and officers* On this particular cruise* however, 
trie crew numbered nearer GOO* Thus, at all time© there was ample assistance 
at hand for whatever undertaking the day might bring forth* 
The ship has a top speed of 32 knots, which is something like 40 
miles an hour* However, at no time did she find it necessary to go above 26 
knots, about JO miles an hour* The HOUSTON, moreover, has fully equipped 
