party from our convoy, the U.8.S. MeXKXTGAJ,, harpooned a gisnt ray, Manta 
M roetris. which should he mentioned here "because it is one of tbs few speci- 
mens for which one 1® able to record the actual weight. Tt tipped a heavy- 
duty "boat-scales at 1,0*5 pounds and measured 15 feet wide and 9 feet long, 
exclusive of its 4 -foot tail. 
Pith the aid of a detachment of men and officers from the HODS? OR, 
. Schmitt" secured comprehensive botanical material of an undescribed species 
of palm, and some rare tree ferns of which several species are known from this 
still incompletely explored island. The next leg of our Journey, Cocos to 
Balboa, was uneventful. While in the Canal Zone, August 4 - 5 , no scientific 
- ilitr ~ pr'-itj ' surc of ■ official dull 0s e rf 
collect 4 ng was ur 
feind-o^-x mo th ixrt 
August 6. Though lying abreast the Atlantic coast of the Hepublie of 
Hioaragua, this Island is a part of the United States of Colombia. We found 
no sport fishing at Old Providence. Game fish were scarce or absent, a few 
(Vv>«.». «J< 
gr-ouper-o and two young barracuda being about all that was caught by the fish- 
ing parties. On the other hand, the shore, reef collecting and dredging were 
very productive. Two new sped s of goboid fish were caught in a ti depool; 
A AL*r-ru£L ' — ' 9 J 
^"new fora of marine pl*mtc£W&® col lac ted hers,- too* 
Our arrival at Pensacola on August 9 th, the twenty-fourth day, 
miles out from San Diego, marked the conclusion of a most successful cruis^p) 
§tm ell points 0** -r*— f . Over and above a host of^scienti fic mat eri aljr"geolog- 
ical, botanical, and zoologicalj'S3 different species of fish were caught by 
one means or another. Still other species were soon, but for want of speci- 
SlOB^-fro - £50 individual fish, representing about 60 different species, were 
