12 EEPORT OF THE SECEETARY. 



Avork of collecting in Florida the materials for the studj^ of the em- 

 bryology of the alligator, and in subsequent investigations. Mr. 

 W. A. Bentley, of Jericho, Vt., has from time to time made numer- 

 ous photographs of snow crystals and has recently turned over to the 

 Institution 500 glass positives of his best and most interesting photo- 

 graphs, together with a descriptive paper relating to them. 



NAPLES TABLE. 



The Smithsonian seat in the Naples Zoological Station has been 

 continuously occupied for the greater part of the present jeav and, 

 as heretofore, the reports submitted at the close of appointments 

 mention the exceptional opportunities for special research afforded 

 at Naples. 



To avoid the confusion and inconvenience likely to result from the 

 duplication of appointments. Doctor Dohrn has recently made a 

 request that two students should not be assigned to Naples at the same 

 period without i)revious consultation with the management of the 

 station. In order, therefore, to meet the wishes of the always 

 courteous and accommodating director, it is desirable that those wish- 

 ing to occupy the Smithsonian seat should enter their applications 

 as long a time as possible in advance of the period decided on. This 

 will permit the necessary correspondence in regard to each appoint- 

 ment, when, as is not infrequently the case, there are more applicants 

 than can be readily provided for, and will perhaps also at times 

 afford the opportunity for the extra occupation of an unassigned seat. 



It may be added that appointments covering twelve months of the 

 3^ear — June 30, 1905, to June 30, 1906- — have already been approved, 

 but as two students are to be received during the same period for one 

 limited appointment, it may be possible to approve additional brief 

 sessions during the j^ear. As before announced, applications for the 

 ensuing year ma}'^ be taken up for consideration at any time within 

 six months of the period desired. 



The appointment of Prof. J. B. Johnston, of the University of 

 West Virginia, terminated March 1, 1905. ^^Hiile at Naples Doctor 

 Johnston obtained and prepared a large amount of material for 

 future experiment and study. Being an experienced teacher, he 

 hopes to embody the results so far secured in a more complete and 

 exact account of the brain, which will be incorporated in a text-book 

 on The Nervous System of Vertebrates, now in course of ^jreparation. 



In April Doctor Johnston was succeeded at the station by Dr. 

 Stewart Paton, a former member of the teaching staff of Johns Hop- 

 kins University, on whose behalf a second appointment of six months 

 from November 1, 1905, has since been approved. A previous inves- 

 tigation to determine the time when the first spontaneous movements 

 and definite reactions to external stimulation occur in the embryo 



