DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY.* 



Alfred G. Mayer, Director. 



The year just passed marks the beginning of a new epoch in the scientific 

 progress of the Department. The building of the yacht Anton Dohrn and 

 the repairs upon the laboratory at Tortugas were completed too late last year 

 to enable us to avail ourselves of the enhanced advantages they afford. This 

 year, however, we have been able to offer facilities for research to 15, in- 

 stead of the usual 10 investigators. 



Our new 70-foot, 100 horsepower, twin-screw yacht, the Anton Dohrn, 

 has been tested upon a month's cruising in the Bahamas and proves to be 

 thoroughly seaworthy. Her maximum speed is somewhat more than 10 

 knots per hour, but under economical management, with both engines run- 

 ning, she makes 9 knots and consumes about 15 gallons of gasoline per hour. 

 Under one engine, however, the speed becomes y}^ knots and gasoline con- 

 sumption 7^ gallons per hour. The supply of gasolene being 1,300 gallons, 

 enables us to run 87 hours under both engines, or 173 hours under one 

 engine. Thus in calm weather we may make 780 nautical miles under both 

 engines or 1,300 miles under one engine. Of exceptionally strong construc- 

 tion, provided with two water-tight bulkheads and a practically flush deck, 

 the yacht may be expected to survive the most severe storms out at sea. 



Thus the whole West Indian-Florida region has been opened to our ex- 

 ploration, and it is proposed that we extend the field of our activities and 

 commence a series of biological oceanographic researches embracing the 

 interesting region of the Caribbean Sea and the sources of the Gulf Stream. 



The recent expedition of the Michel Sars, under Sir John Murray and 

 Professor Hjort, has shown how much may be accomplished in the study 

 of marine biology through the intelligent and courageous use of a small 

 vessel by experts thoroughly trained to the work. It should be a source of 

 regret to us in America that our country, which during the mid-decade of 

 the nineteenth century under Maury and Bache led all others in the scientific 

 study of the sea, should now have fallen into an insignificant place in such 

 researches. Our country, which fostered the labors of Louis and Alexander 

 Agassiz, and of Pourtales, Sigsbee, and Tanner, should not now be content 

 to lapse into desuetude respecting this iinportant field of study. Even apart 

 from the high scientific interest in such work, the practical side is not to be 

 neglected. That there may be such a side becomes apparent when we re- 

 member that the temperature of the coastal water off Scandinavia in May 

 bears a direct relation to the growth of pine trees along the Norwegian shore 

 during the following year. Probably a fuller knowledge of the physical, 



* Situated at Tortugas, Florida. Grant No. 746. $18,000 for investigations and 

 maintenance during 1912. (For previous reports see Year Books Nos. 3-10.) 



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