The first phase of the programme was instituted on 1st September, 

 1946, by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with a grant from 

 the Office of Naval Research, the designated objective being to assemble 

 and analyse available data and thereafter to formulate a 'comprehensive 

 field programme. Subjects specified for attention were — 



(1) Character and distribution of plankton as related to features in 



physical and chemical oceanography and to the natural 

 resources of the sea ; 



(2) Distribution and growth rates of reef-building corals ; 

 (.3) Causes and occurrence of phosphorescent waters ; 



(4) Regional distribution and biology of fouling organisms ; 



(5) Character and prevalence of sound producing marine animals ; 



and 



(6) Poisonous or otherwise dangerous marine animals. 



: . A staff of six- marine biologists and technical assistants first compiled 

 a bibliographic card index, with abstracts, of some ten thousand titles. 

 A set of 4,098 Japanese nautical and oceanographic charts were next 

 catalogued and titles translated. To further facilitate the use of 

 Japanese material a glossarj' of Japanese hydrographic terms (approxi- 

 mately four thousand words) and a comprehensive Japanese ocean- 

 ographic dictionary have been prepared b}' Rodnej'^ Notomi. 



Analysis of data and preparation of reports on the assigned subjects 

 aire now well advanced. Five scientific reports have so far been 



completed :— 



(1) " Sonic Fishes of the Pacific." by Marie P. Fish. Available data 



on sonic members of forty-two families of teleosts are presented 

 with an extensive bibliograph}^ of literature on the subject. 

 The seasonal and regional distribution of subsurface noises 

 attributable to fishes have been charted from records in 

 Submarine War Patrol reports. 



(2) " Practical Aspects of Coral Reef Growth," by Gordon A. Riley. 



A consideration of the present status of knowledge on Pacific 

 reef growth and the environmental ■ factors involved, with a 

 classified bibliography of pertinent publications. 



(3) " Phytoplankton of the Western North Pacific," by Gordon A. 



Riley and Ruth von Arx. Quantitative distribution . of 

 plankton and certain of its environmental factors, including 

 surface temperature, transparency, and the surface concentra- 

 tions of phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, and silicate. The report 

 is based largely on Japanese data which have been averaged 

 by five-degree squares over periods of three months for 

 charting purposes. 



(4) " Fouling in the Western Pacific," by Louis W. Hutchins. The 



area treated in this report is somewhat larger than in others 

 . of the series, to permit incorporation of important data on the 



Hawaiian and Solomons - New Hebrides regions. Much of 

 the information has been derived from a study of unpublished 

 results of Navy-sponsored investigations and a large file, ,of 

 data on ship, net, and mine fouling acquired in the course 

 of war-time operations. ». 



162 



