326 MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



I should recommend that such an appointment be made in 

 advance of the move to our permenent quarters; since this should 

 be supervised by an experienced person, and because there is 

 important preliminary work now awaiting attention. 



H. Me. E. KNOWER, 



Librarian. 



VI. THE DIRECTOR'S REPORT 



To THE TRUSTEES OF THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY: 



Gentlemen: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of 

 the twenty-sixth session of the Marine Biological Laboratory. 

 The year just drawing to a close has been in many respects the 

 most successful and encouraging since the foundation of the 

 Laboratory. Not only has there been a great increase in at- 

 tendance which has tasked our accommodations beyond our pre- 

 vious estimates of the uttermost, but the spirit of research has 

 never been more intense or on a higher plane, and many interest- 

 ing results have been obtained. If these could in some way be 

 exhibited together I feel confident that they would amount to a 

 really great increase in the resources of biological facts and prin- 

 ciples. This matter is, however, intangible and impossible to 

 estimate at close range. Even after publication the results of a 

 particular piece of investigation are not capable of immediate 

 appraisal; and but little of last season's work is yet published. 

 Moreover in our absolutely free method of organization with no 

 prescription as to material, or subject matter, or method of 

 investigation, and no restriction as to time or place of publication, 

 one can gain only the most general impression of the results 

 actually secured by so large a body of investigators. I can 

 only feel, and express the opinion, that the laboratory is main- 

 taining its best traditions in these respects. 



Turning to the record of the principal events of the year: the 

 attendance of the investigators was in excess of the largest pre- 

 vious attendance by nearly one third; the actual figures are 122 

 in 1913, 93 in 1912, 82 in 1911, 62 in 1910. The number of 

 students in courses was 69, making a total attendance of in- 



