XX1V CHARLES OTIS WHITMAN 
IN EUROPE 
Professor Whitman left Japan in Avgust, 1881, and from Novem- 
ber 11, 1881, to May 2, 1882, he worked at the Zoological Station 
of Naples as guest of Professor Dohrn. His sojourn in the Zoolog- 
ical Station laid the foundation of an everlasting friendship with 
Dohrn, and, when he left, Professor Dohrn gave him a testimonial 
recommending him strongly to some professorship. While at 
Naples Whitman studied the embryology, life-history, and classi- 
fication of Dicyemids and wrote a paper on the subject, published 
in January, 18938, which is still the standard work of reference. 
Whitman had thus come under the influence of three of the 
great leaders of his time in zoology, Agassiz, Leuckart and Dohrn. 
His original bent in the direction of the natural history of birds 
was diverted by these experiences towards the study of marine 
life and lower organisms, but later on he returned to his original 
interests in birds, particularly pigeons, with a mind deepened by 
intimate acquaintance with the fundamental problems of biology. 
After leaving Naples he went to Leipzig where he remained until 
the middle of September, engaged among other things in pre- 
paring his Naples work for publication. On September 1, 1882, 
he wrote to Mr. Frost: ‘‘I leave for America on the 15th of 
September and shall go to Leonard’s (Newton Highlands) and 
shall hope to see you somehow or somewhere. I have not yet 
decided where to spend next winter. There is some possibility 
of my going to Johns Hopkins—though nothing definite yet. 
Have just finished manuscript of work done in Naples, and a 
portion is already in print.” 
AT HARVARD 
In the autumn of 1882 he was appointed Assistant in Zoology 
at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University, 
and held this position until 1886. In the spring of 1883 he went 
to Key West, Florida, to secure for Mr. Alexander Agassiz material 
with which to complete Mr. Agassiz’s monograph on ‘‘The Por- 
pitidae and Velellidae.’”’ Though he spent six weeks there he did 
not meet with success. In the summer of 1883 he worked at 
