MARINE RESEARCH

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 141, 18 December 1928, Page 12

MARINE RESEARCH

BIG EXPEDITION

LIFE IN. PACIFIC OCEAN

Tho Ulyria, a sturdy brigantiuc-rig-ged vessel, was to have left Boston in tho middle of November on an expedition which is expected to add auothor chapter to the data now available on marine creatures —birds, mammals, and reptiles of the Pacific Ocean, states the "Christian Science Monitor." The little vessel will cover over 30,----000 miles, and after various stops in tho South Pacific, will swing northwest and skirt the coast of Asia before beating back across tho North Pacific to Anchorage, Alaska. The final leg will be down the west coasts of Canada and the United States, through the Panama Canal, and back up to Boston to complete a voyage of nearly a year. Besides her crew, the Iltyria will carry a distinguished personnel of natural scientists and collectors, headed by Cornelius Crane, of Chicago, son of Richard T. Crane, • jun., a trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Other members of the party will be Karl P. Schmidt, assistant "curator of reptiles at the Field Museum; Dr. Albert W. Herre, a curator of the Museum of Zoology of Loland Stanford University; Dr. W. L. Moss, of Harvard University; Charles R. Peavy, of Mobile, Ala.; Sidney N. Heap, of Churchstoke, Montgomeryshire, England, and I Walter A. Weber, artist. The expedition is sponsored by the Field Museum of Natural History and Lclund Stanford University. The vessel will carry equipment for | fishing and general marine Work from slioro to shallow water, especially for use around coral reefs. First-hand sketches and studies of colouration will bo made by Mr. Weber, who also is a student of zoology. This will enable tho expedition to obtain a very accurate record of many specimens which have a tendency to lose their brilliant hues within a-few hours when brought up from tho deep sea whero the pressure is great and the light subdued. Complete photographic equipment will make it possible for negatives to be developed aboard the vessel. , TO HUNT FOR SEA SERPENTS. The expedition will make special efforts to obtain specimens of "sea serpents," around which many legends of tho sea have raised an.atmosphere of improbability and mystery. The only specimens iv existence aro believed to be in tho East Indian coral reefs, and the Illyria will cruise in these waters in the hope of bringing back an actual specimen of the creature. Giant land tortoises and marine iguanas of Galapagos, various lizards in the different groups of South Sea Islands, huge frogs, salamanders, and the monitor lizards of Komodo, which arc said to resemble monsters of prehistoric times, are among the specimens sought by the expedition. Among the unusual birds, the expedition will seek to collect are the flightless cormorant, the gigantic cassowary of the Moluccas, the birds of paradise, a wide variety of pheasants, and the mound-builders, large birds which lay their eggs in mounds of earth like reptiles. Great importance will be attached to obtaining specimens of arboreal and nocturnal marsupials, lemurs, and shrews and a specimen of the spinycoated ant-eater which lays eggs like a reptile but nourishes its young with' milk. . •