190 CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON. 



lished, or are presented only in preliminary reports, and we await 

 his final publication, which may be expected to appear within a year 

 or two. 



^Yorking with Ekman meters, Dr. Vaughan showed that the pre- 

 vailing impression is correct, that there is a decided westerly set of 

 the surface-waters of the Hawk Channel and Tortugas region. Thus 

 at Tortugas and for some distance to the southward, the water is mov- 

 ing westerly, whereas the Gulf Stream moves eastward. 



It will be seen that the studies which have been pursued at Tortugas 

 cover a wide range of subjects, from the habits of sea gulls to the 

 geology of limestone regions; but the major efforts of the Laboratory 

 have been directed toward experimental work in biology and phj^si- 

 ology, for the reason that these subjects have hitherto been neglected 

 in tropical regions. Yet with its pure water and uniform temperature, 

 that of the water being practically the same as that of the air, the 

 Tortugas and West Indian region affords an unique opportunity for 

 the prosecution of experimental work. Systematic work upon dead 

 and preserved material has not been neglected by the Laboratory, but 

 has been relegated to a secondary place, for the reason that many such 

 collections have already been made in the tropics, the specimens being 

 taken to temperate regions for study. It has, above all, been the aim 

 of the Laboratory not to undertake studies which could be prosecuted 

 with equal success elsewhere or performed by other existing agencies. 

 Indeed, in common with all other departments of the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion of Washington, we are in no sense a rival of the universities and 

 laboratories of our country, but our highest purpose is to be of import- 

 ant assistance to all and to do those things which for some reason can 

 not be or have not been done by other institutions. In each case it is 

 the aim of the Laboratory to grant to the exceptional man the best 

 possible facilities for the prosecution of his chosen research, and if we 

 have succeeded in widening the range and enlarging the field of re- 

 search in marine biology, it is due solely to the devoted labors of many 

 of the most gifted young men of the college faculties of our country, 

 who year after year have labored faithfully in the arduous task of 

 winning at least some measure of success for an enterprise for which 

 many predicted failure. 



Moreover, and by no means least, it is a pleasure to speak of the 

 faithful work in calm and in time of storm of the manly crew of the 

 Anton Dohrn, to whom hardship and danger have been but an incentive 

 to the cool and efficient performance of their duty. 



Throughout the period of the existence of the laboratory at Tortu- 

 gas, the commandants of the naval station at Key West have been 

 most kind to us, and to Admiral George P. Colvocoresses, Commodore 

 WiUiam H. Beehler, and Captain Edward Everett Hayden, successively 

 commandants of the naval station at Key West, it is a pleasure and 

 privilege to express our thanks. 



