PROGRESS IN BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES, 103 3 379 



will be used in fiirthor pollution studios. Thoso now motliods involve 

 the use of standard strains of plankton animals raisoil under con- 

 trolled environments and tested under uniform conditions of tem- 

 perature, light, etc., which can be repeated time after time with 

 extreme accuracy. Both immediate and cumulative effects can be 

 studied by this liiethod. The findings in the plankton tests are veri- 

 fied on stantlarilizod fish projiarations and on standardized free liv- 

 ing fish, both in the laboratory and under controlled conditions out 

 of doors. The new plan offers scientific data on pollution and pollu- 

 tion problems which were not obtainable by the other methods of 

 study. Already the method has been applied to the investigation of 

 heavy metal pollution, industrial wastes, and municipal wastes with 

 excellent results in each case. A general standardization of pollution 

 measurements is to be ]n-oduced as rapidly as the work will permit. 

 In connection with the development of standard procedure for the 

 maintenance of standard strains of plankton, the work required the 

 reinvestigation of basic food for plankton, and it was found that 

 this could be derived from several elements of waste now lost in 

 general sewage disposal. Investigations of these various food con- 

 stituents are now under way and one new combination for plankton 

 food is in press from this work. 



INDEPENDENT ACTIVITIES OF THE FISHERIES BIOLOGICAL 

 LABORATORIES 



The Bureau owns and operates four Fisheries biological labora- 

 tories located respectively at Woods Hole, Mass.; Beaufort, N.C.; 

 Fairport. Iowa; and Seattle, Wash. 



The Woods Hole laboratory, provided with running salt water, 

 a reference library, and the usual biological, chemical, and photo- 

 graphic laboratories and stock rooms, normally offers alcoves or 

 tables for the free use of independent investigators engaged in re- 

 search in nuirine biology. A marine fish hatchery is operated in con- 

 junction during the winter, and a small public aquarium is main- 

 tained during the summer season. A 40-foot diesel-powered vessel, 

 e(iuipped for trawling, tow net, and hydrographic work, and smaller 

 launches and rowboats are attached to the station. 



The Beaufort (N.C.) laboratory has no public aquarium nor as 

 extensive a library as at the ' Woods Hole station, but has 

 running salt water and similar laboratory facilities and floating 

 equipment. Owing to the mild climate and the terrapin hatching 

 activities, the station is operated the year around and offers research 

 facilities to private investigators. 



Research activities at the Fairport (Iowa) laboratory, equipped 

 for the investigation of fresh-water biology, have been entirely dis- 

 continued, owing chiefly to a lack of sufficient funds. The station is 

 operated for the present by the Division of Fish Culture solely for 

 the culture of warm-water pond fishes. 



The Bureau's nowast laboratory at Seattle, Wash., serves as head- 

 quarters for the Division's Pacific coast and Alaska research staff, 

 whose activities are reported elsewhere, for the technologists and sta- 

 tistical agents of the Division of Fishery Industries, and for the staff 

 of the International Fisheries Commission, United States and Can- 

 ada. Although, except for a chemical laboratory, the building is not 



