MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY. 



collectors studied tbe best methods of pre- 

 serving material, tbe habitats and breed- 

 ing seasons of various animals, etc., with 

 the result that the Supplj' Department has 

 been not only a great financial assistance to 

 the Laboratory, but that it has still further 

 contributed to the scientific purposes for 



with numerous colored plates, and some of 

 them represent unique lines of research. 

 For example, the study of 'cell-lineage,' 

 as it has been called, had its origin at the 

 Woods Holl Laboratory and has so far been 

 confined almost entirely to that institution. 

 This work consists in tracing the cleavage 



c 



Fig. 4. A Collecting Trip ; Launch and Schooner iu the Background. 



which the Laboratory was established. At 

 present a skilled collector is employed the 

 year around and material is gathered, not 

 only from the vicinity of Woods Holl, but 

 from far distant points. 



But it is iu the work of investigation 

 that the Laboratory has won greatest re- 

 nown. The eminent scientific standing of 

 the Director and his co-laborers has served 

 to attract iuvestigatoi-s from all parts of the 

 land, until the Woods Holl Laboratory is 

 to-daj' the Mecca of American biologists 

 and is well and favorably known through- 

 out the world. The list of original con- 

 tributions which have proceeded from the 

 Laboratory during the past twelve years 

 numbers about three hundred; manj' of 

 these are large monographs, illustrated 



cells, into which the developing eggs of all 

 animals divide, through the whole develop- 

 ment until they give rise to larval or adult 

 organs, such as the brain, nerves, sense or- 

 gans, glands, alimentary canal, etc. This 

 is in all cases a difficult task, frequently' 

 taking years of the most painstaking labor, 

 but its results have been of fundamental 

 and far reaching importance. Thanks to 

 this work we now know the cell-lineage of 

 about a score of worms and mollusks. 

 This work has shown that from their first 

 appearance certain cleavage cells are des- 

 tined to give rise to certain organs ; it has 

 shown that, in the groups mentioned, cleav- 

 age is as constant in its character as are 

 adult features ; that in animals so widely 

 separated as tlat-worms, annelids and mol- 



