The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-07-29
A BERMUDA EXPEDITION.

Real l-Fish-Proposed Geological
 Station.
 l (From the New York Evening Post) | The expedition of students of the Sheffield Scientific school, which for some time has been studying the ma rine animals of the Bermuda stands un- der the direction of Professor A. D. | Verrill, has returned to New Haven. The objects of the expedition were part ly to give the students opportunities to study at first hand a variety of sea ani- l mals in the living state, and partly to obtain collections for the Peabody Mu- scum of Yale and for uses in Professor | Verrilps scientific courses. The men had many interesting experiences dur ing their six weeks sojourn in the is | lands, and the results of the expedition | are believed to be of great interest to science They brought back with them ten thousand specimens, which filled l thirty large packing boxes. A large ! number of these are absolutely new to | the scientific world. They are now be- ing catalogued and arranged, and when properly classified will be added to Pro- lessor Verrills collections in the Pea body Museum.
 The greater part of these specimens were collected in Castle Harbor Bailey Bay, and Harrington Sound. In the two former Professor Verrill says that coral reefs are extremely abundant, and that in Castle Harbor many rise nearly to the surface at low tide, so that one can wade upon them in a bathing-suit. Tx, I Lt 1 coral reefs, but many beautiful branched corals grow on the bottom, and the delicate and beautiful That CO., | ral," which grows in the shape of lich- | en, can be found in the caverns which l have been worn into the bases of the | cliffs by the action of the waves. In l these caverns thousands of other inter- | esting creatures find congenial home. l Among them are the large octopus, one form of what is popularly known as the l devil-fish," and several kinds of large and beautifully colored sea-anemone. Many of the specimens of brain coral | star corals, rose-corals, Sea-fanS, | sponges, and many other things of in- | terest were obtained on the coral reefs The larger corals were fished up by | means of grapples made for the pur- l pose; but many of the smaller and more | delicate forms the students obtained by | diving.
 l Sixteen different kinds of true coral 1 were obtained. Some of them were of 1 large size, weighing several hundred | pounds. Several specimens of still lar ger brain-coral were seen, one of the | largest being formed in the shape of a dome, some five feet high and six feet | across. It was colored a beautiful or ange, or where still alive an orange | yellow. Upon the rose-corals, in the living state, were found swarms of live small animals, which at a distance looked like clusters of sea-anemones. Each one of them was one or two inch es wide, and of brilliant though very diverse colors-bright emerald green, lavender, pale blue, and variegated with brown, gray, lavender and green. The expedition obtained ten different kinds of gorgonians, called by the na- tives "sea-fans" and "sea-rods." Some of the specimens are very rare. Pros lessor Verrill also secured a very satis- 1 factory collection of ea-anemones, of | which colored drawings have been made. The larger part of them are un- usually beautiful in form and color. Several of them are large, and while alive were a foot across.
 Professor Verrill found that the Ber- muda shores swarm with crabs of many kinds. They live in the cracks and cavernous holes of the rough limestone lodges, into which they ran with unusu- al speed whenever the members of the party attempted their capture. They had very great difficulty, indeed, in se- curing the specimens which were brought home. Some of the crabs are | large and handsomely colored. The most abundant is the Grapsus pickus, which is richly painted with bright red, | brown and yellow. The expedition found another similar crab on the bor- ders of the salt ponds and in the man. grove trees. Upon the small, uninhab- ited islands of the Bermudas dark brown crab was discovered. This anil mai. which is found in great numbers, burrows deeuIy into the barren sand hills like rat A curious land hermit crab runs about over the islands carry ing a sea-shell on his back Not un- commonly the shell he carries is a fos- sil shell that weathers out of the soft lllIleSIOHS Ol WUlCIl tilc bGIDiuud IS lands are formed. A large collection of shells was obtained, some of which are of great rarity.
 Related to these are the sea-cats or ! sea-hareS, of which a liberal collection was secured. They are large and rath- CT sluggish creatures, spending most of their time on the reefs, though occa- sionally swimming leisurely by means of their great side-fifins. Ten different | kinds were collected, frequently over a foot long and approximately stout. Their color is usually an olive-green, with bright spots. When ap- proached,' says Professor Verrill, ''they are in the habit of ejecting a large
 quantity of a violet-cOlored fluid re-
 sembling ink. This discolors the water for a considerable space about them. The fluid is probably elected for defen-
 sive purposes, and was reputed by the ancients to be a deadly poison. One of
 the ingredients of the magic potion of
 the witches cauldron in Mac
 beth is given by Shakespeare as this inky fluid of the sea cat. A variety of
 these anmials is found in the Mediter- can. and they have been known to sci entists for ages. A few of our speci-