MARINE ZOOLOGY IX THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC. 41 



A LABOEATORY FOR THE STUDY OF MARINE ZOOLOGY 

 m THE TROPICAL ATLANTIC* 



By Dr. ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH MAYER. 



nV /|~ANY able naturalists have discussed the question of the advisa- 

 -^^ bility of establishing a marine biological laboratory for research 

 within the West Indian region, and the advocacy of the idea by Huxley 

 and Lancaster is a matter of recent memory. Wliile none of these 

 discussions has resulted in the establishment of a permanent laboratory 

 they have served a useful purpose in keeping alive the interest of 





-'^.. 



ii«(«S-**-* 



Track of Loggerhead Turtle {T. carelta) made in crawling up the Beach to lay its 



Eggs. Loggerhead Key, Tortugas. 



biologists, and also in proving that it is very difficult to bring about a 

 combination of colleges or learned societies which will lead to the 

 establishment of such a station. 



Indeed the realization of the establishment of such a laboratory 

 might be considered well-nigh hopeless were it not for the recent crea- 

 tion of the Carnegie Institution. If it be the aim of this institution 

 to maintain researches which no existing agencies have been able to 



* With illustrations by permission of the Museum of the Brooklyn Institute 

 of Arts and Sciences. 



