The working day at the Fisheries Laboratory usually 

 started with a collecting trip to fish traps, or for dredging or 

 taking plankton samples. The small coal-burning steamer 

 Phalarope (fig. 27), under the command of Capt. R. N. Veeder, 

 was used for this purpose. Fisheries biologists and MBL in- 

 vestigators interested in making a trip were welcome. A group 

 desiring to get aboard usually gathered by 9:00 a.m. at the 

 Fisheries dock. Many persons wanted to watch the dredging 

 or seining and were not concerned with obtaining the material. 

 Robert A, Goffin, collector for the Fisheries Laboratory, and 

 two fish culturists formed the collecting crew. 



With the exception of long trips, which sometimes lasted 

 the whole day, the Phalarope would return about noontime; early 

 enough for the participants to change and be ready for their 

 luncheon, which was served by the MBL messhall sharply at 

 1:30 p.m. The collecting trip became so popular, especially 

 when the weather was good, that the number of passengers on 

 board had to be restricted to conform to safety regulations en- 

 forced by the Coast Guard. If something exciting happened dur- 

 ing the trip, for instance the catch of a big shark or large moon- 

 fish, everybody would dash to one side of the vessel and cause 

 a dangerous list. In later years, Capt. Veeder refused to take 

 more than 20 persons aboard. 



In addition to the material needed for research at the 

 Fisheries and collected by the scientists themselves or under 

 their supervision, the Phalarope brought live fishes for the 

 aquarium, which was open to the public every day of the week. 

 The aquarium was operated by the Superintendent of the Station 

 with the assistance of R. A. Goffin. 



Among the most spectacular persons occupying labora- 

 tory space during this period was Nathan Augustus Cobb (fig. 32), 

 acting Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Plant Nutrition of the 

 Department of Agriculture and later principal nematologist of 

 the Bureau. His outstanding contributions to the taxonomy, 

 anatomy, and microscopic structure of nematodes made him 

 known to a wide circle of scientists in the world. From 1924 

 to the last year of his life in 1932, he worked every summer 

 at Woods Hole, spending long hours at the microscope and 

 often quitting only late at night. He is remembered by his 

 friends and acquaintances as a tall, slender man with thick 

 moustaches, always clad in a khaki laboratory coat. His sci- 

 entific interests centered around the nematodes, a group of 

 animals which he probably knew better than any other nemato- 

 logist of his time. To those in the Laboratory who were inter- 

 ested in his work, he revealed his ideas of the tremendous 

 importance of this group of worms. The highly specialized 

 nature of his work did not narrow his point of view as a sci- 

 entist but permitted him to use nematodes for attacking major 

 biological problems such as heredity, phylogeny, adaptation. 



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