352 MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



V. STATEMENT CONCERNING THE LIBRARY 



On account of the exceptional conditions of the state of war, 

 it was found impossible to carry out any external enterprise, 

 and in the absence of the assistant librarian, other work was 

 limited. For these reasons the main effort was devoted to exten- 

 sion.of the catalogues. In addition, a number of gifts were acces- 

 sioned. Among these must be mentioned the gift by Miss 

 Katharine Foot of about 750 reprints from her collection, expe- 

 cially rich in cytology, and the gift by Dr. Ida H. Hyde of a most 

 valuable collection of about 1,900 books and reprints on phy- 

 siological subjects. These gifts are particularly valuable as 

 they constitute research collections including many rare pub- 

 lications at least two thirds of which are new to the Library. 

 The cooperation of investigators has been a most important 

 factor in building up the library. 



VI. THE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 



January I, 1919 



To THE TRUSTEES OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY: 

 Gentlemen: I beg to present herewith a report of the thirty- 

 first session of the Marine Biological Laboratory for the year 

 1918. Our anticipation both last season and this, that the war 

 would affect our regular work unfavorably has been to a certain 

 extent realized. But the conclusion of the war nevertheless 

 finds us in a strong position, with our organization intact, and 

 no actual suspension of our work incurred in spite of a consid- 

 erable diminution of it. 



If we examine the tabular view of attendance given under 3 

 beyond, we find that the total attendance for the last four years 

 was: 1915, 242; 1916, 231 ; 1917, 212; '1918, 161. The attendance 

 of investigators during the same period was cut down from 

 137 to 92, and of students from 105 to 69. The greatest pro- 

 portional loss was among the younger investigators, whose 

 numbers were reduced to less than one half. This is explained 

 by the fact that the young men were serving our country in 



