Report on the zoological collections made in the Indo-Pacific Ocean ...

THEZOOLOGICALCOLLECTIONSojH.M.S.'ALERT.'SUMMARY OF THE VOYAGE.BYR. W. COPPINGER, M.D., Staff-Surgeon R.N.During the summer of 1878 it was resolved by the Admiralty toequip a vessel for the performance of special surveying-work onthe western shores of Patagonia, among the South-Pacific Islands,and on the eastern and northern shores of Australia; in additionto which, it was the wish of the Hydrogra])her of theNavy, Captain (now Sir Frederick) Evans, F.R.S., that no opportunityshould be lost of collecting objects of natural history wheneverthe requirements of the survey brought the vessel into regionswhose zoology was hitherto but imperfectly known. It was inaccordance \vith these views that on the 20th August, 1878, H.M.S.'Alert' was commissioned at Sheerness, with a complement of120 officers and men, by Captain Sir George IS'ares, who, by a happycoincidence, had commanded the same vessel in the Polar Expeditionof 1875-76. On the 20th of the following month we sailed fromPlymouth.On the outward voyage we touched for a few days at Madeira andSt. Vincent respectively ; and at both of these places some shallowwaterdredging was accomplished, resulting in the acquisition of asmall collection of marine invertebrates, in which, as might havebeen expected, there was little, if any thing, of special interest.B