News from Beebe

William Beebe, with the Oceanographic Expedition of the New York Zoological Society aboard the ship Arcturns (TIME, Feb. 16), reported by wireless that the expedition was in the Sargasso Sea, and that the first specimens of young ribbon-like eels had been captured.

The weedy patches of this sea are believed to be the breeding place of eels, which spread thence to the shores of neighboring continents.

The Arcturus has had rough voyaging all the way, from New York to Newport News, from Newport News to Bermuda (which was touched on Feb. 19) and since then at sea. Considerable breakage of crockery resulted; the heavy seas prevented deep sea trawling to bring up the little monsters from great depths. These live under such great pressure that they usually burst when brought to the surface because their high inward pressure, developed to meet the great weight of the water of the depths, cannot endure when they are lifted to the low pressure of the surface.

An iron "pulpit" lowered over the bow has proved a great success. Air. Beebe posted himself at that vantage point and, submerged to the waist at every pitch of the vessel, scooped up many specimens. Patches of Sargassum weed were encountered, even before reaching Bermuda, and specimens of weed taken with the crabs and little fishes which accompany it.

The weed-bed has been broken up and scattered by storms and the ship's wireless has proved useful in enabling the ship to learn of the location of patches of the weed from other vessels in the vicinity.