DEPARTMENT OF MARINE BIOLOGY. 181 



A SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS ACHIEVED BY THE LABORATORY 

 DURING THE TEN YEARS. 1905-1914. 



During these first ten years of its existence, 49 investigators have 

 studied under the auspices of the laboratory; 28 of these have returned 

 two or more times to the station, and thus a total of 108 visits have 

 been made to the laboratory for the purpose of investigation. 



The Carnegie Institution of Washington has published 49 papers as 

 a result of the researches of these students, and also 1 1 others resulting 

 from the work of the Director, or 60 in all; this enumeration does not 

 include papers now in press or preliminary reports in the Y^ear Books of 

 the Institution. In addition, at least 44 papers have been published by 

 agencies other than the Institution. Thus at least 104 papers have 

 resulted from the researches of the laboratory, the Carnegie Institu- 

 tion of Washington itself having published 2,251 pages and 269 plates, 

 exclusive of preliminary reports in Year Books. 



In Year Book No. 8, 1909, pages 146-153, may be found reviews of 

 all researches which were completed during the first five years of the 

 work of the laboratory, and we will not again refer to these, but will 

 mention only those which have resulted from the studies of 1909 to 

 1914. 



During this period, studies in systematic zoology have been pub- 

 hshed by Hartmeyer on Ascidians, Jorgensen on Peridinea, Linton on 

 Trematodes and Cestodes, Mayer on Ctenophorse and Medusae, Osburn 

 on Bryozoa, and Treadwell on Annelids. Some of these papers have 

 been of considerable length, one consisting of 735 pages, but it will be 

 impracticable to review them in this brief summary. 



The interesting studies of Dr. Paul Bartsch upon the mutations of 

 cerions transplanted from the Bahamas to Florida have been men- 

 tioned elsewhere in this report, and attention should also be called to 

 his notes upon migrating birds published in the Y^ear Books for 1913 

 and 1914. 



Dr. Louis R. Gary has carried out an important series of observations 

 upon the growth-rate and oecology of gorgonians. He finds that in 

 order to secure an anchorage, the planulse must usually settle in crevices 

 or in protected places, and the young gorgonian {Plexaura flexuosa) 

 usually reaches 30 to 45 millimeters in height by the end of the first 

 year, the breeding-season being at its height in June. Severe storms 

 are probably the most destructive factor in the oecology of gorgonians, 

 for the colony is often torn bodily from the reefs with its rock of attach- 

 ment, and if thrown over upon its side, death soon results. Dr. Cary 

 found that the bulk of calcareous matter composing the spicular skele- 

 tons of gorgonians ranges from 20 to 35 per cent of the entire v/eight of 

 the animal, and thus upon dying they contribute a greater amount of 

 carbonate of lime to the reef flats of Florida than do the stony corals. 

 Gorgonians have a fair degree of regenerative ability, abraded places 



