of the Commissioner for 1916 (Smith, 1917, p. 45) he wrote: 

 "The Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Laboratory is intended to 

 serve as a nucleus for investigations of more direct reference 

 to the New England and Middle Atlantic fisheries as well as for 

 more technical investigations of general application. In some 

 respects this establishment is better adapted for technical stud- 

 ies than any other laboratory of the Bureau, and it is hoped to 

 improve the facilities for biophysical and biochemical studies 

 that form essential phases of certain fishery investigations. 

 The lack of a perraanent scientific staff for this station causes 

 its scientific operations to be confined largely to the summer 

 season, when temporary professional services are most readily 

 available. " Consequently, the months of June to the first half 

 of September were the period of greatest scientific activities. 

 Inasmuch as the new fiscal year in the Government service be- 

 gins on July 1 and the passage of the appropriation bill is fre- 

 quently delayed, it is impossible to operate the laboratories on 

 the prorated allowance made by Congress until the passage of 

 the regular appropriation. On several occasions the situation 

 became acute; for instance, at the beginning of the fiscal year 

 1913 the difficulty is described as follows: "A number of in- 

 vestigators had already reached the laboratories before it 

 became apparent that the appropriations would not be available. 

 Some of these were employed at reduced salaries and others 

 elected to carry on work under the authority possessed by the 

 Bureau to afford facilities to properly qualified investigators. " 

 (Smith, 1914, p. 31). The policy with respect to permanent 

 scientific personnel remained unchanged until the reorganiza- 

 tion of the Bureau after World War II. 



Smith's association with the Woods Hole scientific com- 

 munity was resumed upon his return from Siam in 1935, when 

 he became Associate Curator in Zoology in the Smithsonian 

 Institution. He acquired property at the corner of Millfield and 

 Gardiner Streets in Woods Hole and established a summer home 

 there. Even while working on his monumental monograph of the 

 fresh-water fishes of Siam, he had not lost interest in the Woods 

 Hole fauna, and he was frequently seen in the laboratory of the 

 Bureau of Fisheries. The descriptions of Leiostomus xanthurus 

 and Alect is crinitus , both species new to Massachusetts Bay, were 

 his last contributions to the ichthyology of the Cape Cod area. 



Biologists working at Woods Hole during the summer of 

 1935 recall the interesting evening lecture delivered by Smith at 

 the MBL auditorium. He described the aquatic life of Siam he 

 had observed during the 12 years of his explorations. He gave 

 vivid accounts of his close encounters with many poisonous snakes 

 and of the biology of the Siamese fighting fish. Snakes frequently 

 invaded his bedroom at night and found shelter in the sleeves of 

 his coat. He told about the 12 -foot python that lived under the 



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