DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 1G7 



Professor William H, Longley continued his elaborate study of the 

 colors of the reef animals in relation to their general environment. 

 He determined that yellow was the prevailing color, both of the 

 reefs and of the reef-living animals. His suggestive and interesting 

 report is herewith presented under his own name, and it is hoped 

 his studies may be continued. 



Dr. E. E. Reinke continued the studies upon the two forms of 

 spermatozoa found in certain mollusks, devoting most of his time to 

 Stromhus. His results are concisely stated in the preliminary report 

 he presents herewith, and he will publish an extended account of 

 these studies in our forthcoming volume of Researches. It is hoped 

 that he may continue his studies upon the interesting physiological 

 aspects of this problem. 



Professor A. L. Treadwell continued his studies of the annelids, 

 devoting special attention to the Eunicidse, the worms being drawn 

 in color in a most careful and beautiful manner by Mr. S. C. Ball. 



Dr. T. Wayland Vaughan continued his observations upon the 

 growth-rate of the corals he had planted out in various places, and 

 devoted much attention to obtaining samples of the water of the 

 Tortugas lagoon and to a study of the processes which result in the 

 formation of oolites. He also observed a remarkable analogy be- 

 tween the general contour and positions of the wide openings in the 

 Marquesas and Tortugas atolls. Apparently, the same dominant 

 factors of winds and currents have been at work upon both atolls. 

 This observation makes an intensive study of the local currents of 

 these regions very desirable. 



Professor Watson continued his studies of the homing instincts of 

 the noddy and the sooty terns of Bird Key, obtaining returns to their 

 nests from Galveston, and from Mobile, Alabama. He also deter- 

 mined that if the birds be isolated from their nests for about 1 1 days 

 they return when liberated, but at the end of about 14 days their 

 mates commonly refuse to receive them, while after about 17 days of 

 isolation the birds do not usually attempt to return to their nests. 



Professor Watson, by Other experiments, confirmed Professor G. 

 Howard Parker's statement that a sound produced in the air is 

 heard only faintly by an ear immersed beneath the surface of water. 

 He also carried out an extensive study of habit-forming in the develop- 

 ment of skill on the part of our men in shooting with bow and arrow. 



Dr. Alfred G. Mayer continued the physiological studies begun 

 last summer and found that if sea-water be diluted with distilled 

 water, or with 0.9 molecular dextrose, the rate of nerve-conduction 

 in Cassiopea increases, oecoming most rapid in 90 per cent sea-water 

 -flO per cent dextrose solution, or distilled water. It then declines, 

 becoming normal in 80 per cent sea-water, after which it continues 

 to decline in a rectilinear ratio as dilution increases. He also found 

 that the magnesium of sea-water is not an active inhibitor of move- 



