report of executive committee. 23 



First Report of Station for Experimental Evolution 

 UNDER Department of Experimental Biology. 



By C. B. Davenport. 



At the request of the Executive Committee of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion, I submitted a plan of organization of the department in Decem- 

 ber, 1903, and, in detail, of the Station for Experimental Evolution. 



It was decided to locate the station at Cold Spring Harbor, Long 

 Island. The superior advantages of other localities were fully con- 

 sidered. California offers a more equable climate, where outdoor 

 work could be pursued throughout the year ; the proximity of lofty 

 mountains would be advantageous. Two important considerations 

 favored the selection of Long Island : First, its acceasibility to the 

 greater number of workers in this field, and, second, its proximity to 

 extensive libraries, making the upbuilding of a large library at the 

 station unnecessary. The points of fitness of Cold Spring Harbor 

 for the proposed work, besides those of central location and proximity 

 to great libraries, are as follows : The free offer of about ten acres 

 of land, with house and stable and horse shed ; the situation of 

 this land on the sea, with wharf, and on a fresh-water creek with a 

 permanent stream running across the land, and with efevations vary- 

 ing from sea-level to 50 feet above sea-level ; the location is among 

 interesting and intelligent neighbors, with the desire and the means 

 of helping the work proposed ; the surrounding country is well 

 watered, densely forested, and hilly, offering a great variety of habi- 

 tats, whose fauna and flora have long been thoroughly studied. The 

 offer of this advantageous property was made by the Wawepex 

 Society, which holds it in trust from the late John D. Jones. 



The writer spent the winter months in New York in arranging 

 for the transfer of the property, in visiting the architects, and in pur- 

 chasing supplies for the new station. Early in February a caretaker, 

 Mr. John N. Johnson, took up his residence at Cold Spring Harbor, 

 and work with living animals there has been carried out continuously 

 since. On May i Dr. Shull, Miss Eutz, and Mr. T. E. Kelly began 

 resident work, and on June i Mr. Frank E. Eutz arrived. 



On Saturday, June 11, the formal opening of the station was cele- 

 brated by exercises. Through the courtesy of the Long Island R. R. 

 Co. a special car brought some fifty guests from New York, and an 

 equal number attended from the neighborhood. After luncheon at 

 the director's residence the following addresses (for full report see 

 pp. 33-49) were given in the Biological Laboratory, whose grounds 

 adjoin those of the station : 



