THE INVERTEBRATE COURSE. \\J 



to six diverse subjects ; these six weeks at Woods Hole belong 

 to zoology alone. 



He has before him the constantly shifting panorama of the 

 animal kingdom, and each animal group is presented by a new 

 instructor with a fresh point of view and a different method of 

 procedure. It is an interesting sight to watch the class when 

 fagged near the end of the course, rise to the stimulus presented 

 by an instructor with a new way of looking at things in general 

 and this especial group of animals in particular. 



Another potent cause for sustained interest is the excellent sup- 

 ply of living or recently preserved animals which Mr. Gray, of the 

 supply department, keeps in the laboratory. Up to the limit of 

 his working ability, the student will not let this material go to 

 waste. 



The intercollegiate character of the class personnel gives stimu- 

 lus to high-grade work. If undergraduate, the students are usu- 

 ally the pick of the department sending them;, if graduate 

 students, they are at least serious-minded. Many of them feel 

 that they are personal representatives of their college and more 

 especially of their home department of zoology and they take 

 pride in bringing credit to their training. 



Finally, there is not the usual reserve between instructors and 

 instructed. To a great extent the general attitude is that of two 

 groups of people, both recognizing that they are fellow-seekers 

 after information, but one, due to greater experience, obliged to 

 confess complete ignorance less frequently than the other group. 

 Even if he desire to do so, the instructor cannot keep a dogmatic 

 attitude in the face of eight students digging all sorts of animals 

 from the sand and mud and asking questions which a dozen spe- 

 cialists could not truthfully answer without an occasional ' I 

 don't know." 



From my observation of the effects of this scheme of class 

 work in the Woods Hole course, I believe the following aspects 

 could be carried over with profit into the usual winter zoological 

 courses. 



i. The introduction of more work with living animals, par- 

 ticularly in the introductory course, and the elimination of much 



