156 ALEXANDER AGASSIZ 



Universities had also erected their own Laboratories at 

 the seashore. There were thus more than sufficient facili- 

 ties to replace the loss at Newport. 



" This is one of the examples of the indifferent sup- 

 port I received from the highest officials of Harvard Col- 

 lege. I know of no University which would not have 

 met half-way the offers I made." 



Before settling at Newport, Agassiz had again taken 

 up his studies in the embryology of Echinoderms. Some 

 experiments in artificial fertilization resulted in his suc- 

 ceeding in crossing two of the more common species of 

 starfish found on the northern coast of Massachusetts. 

 This led him to believe that the well-known difficulty in 

 distinguishing the species of Asteracanthion might be a 

 question of hybridism. 



At first much of his work at Newport was devoted to 

 the study of the embryology and early development of 

 some of the fishes of the New England coast. His in- 

 vestigations of young flounders have a special general 

 interest. In its first stages the young of the flounder is 

 symmetrical and swims about in the manner of other 

 fish, but at an early age it lies down on its side, and the 

 lower eye travels over to the upper side, through the 

 head in some species, and in others by a sort of sliding 

 around the head. There are right-sided and left-sided 

 species, and it is curious to note that nature does not 

 furnish the individual with an unfailing instinct as to 

 which side it is fitting to lie down on. In one case, out 

 of fifteen individuals, no less than eight lay down on 

 the wrong side, and perished of what appeared to be a 

 sort of brain trouble. He also noticed the extraordinary 

 power of protective mimicry in these animals. Provided 



