184 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Jul 



gested, for reasons satisfactory to himself that the coco- 

 anut was a waif stranded from tropical regions, as it con- 

 tained Skeletonema costatum, a species hitherto not re- 

 corded for American waters, but for Europe and Asia. 

 At the same time, in appreciation of the same, he said 

 that the "cocoanut series" could not be duplicated in the 

 U. S., thus constituting a feature of special interest to 

 those studying the diatom. In the interim, I found that 

 there was little hope of securing a suflBcient quantity to 

 distribute at large. The dredging had stopped immedi- 

 ately after the character of the material was known, and 

 there was no further prospect of securing additional speci- 

 mens. 



From the time in 1896 when I suspended correspond- 

 ence with Mr. Peticolas, the ensuing years ran by with- 

 out anything of interest occurring until one day in 1899. 

 Dr. Vida A. Morse of Chicago, opened a correspondence, 

 •end incidentally called my attention to the fame of the 

 material from "Cocoanut Bay, Mobile." This was not the 

 original title given by Mr. Peticolas to his series, but it 

 was near enough to identify its origin. Dr. Morse had but 

 recently become interested in diatoms, but had already 

 gathered slides from many eminent preparers, desired 

 assistance in increasing his collection and a larger ac- 

 quaintance with the subject, as pathology had been his 

 chief specialty in a professional way. I had always been 

 happy to respond to any correspondent interested in my 

 field of study, and the complimentary nature of his initial 

 letter induced me to revert again to the search of the 

 hidden field. It was explained by Dr. Morse, that while in 

 Cincinnati," in company with a group of Diatomists, the 

 character, novelty and richness in species of the find re- 

 ferred to as the "cocoanut find" seemed to possess the 

 highest interest to those discussing it, and this incident- 

 ally fixed the subject on his mind. 



While the correspondence was running, Mr. Fr. Die- 



