exaggerated. To illustrate: the marine life of the Hawaiian 

 Islands is better known than that of any group in the region that 

 it is proposed to visit; yet the U. S. Fish Commission, in a brief 

 season's collecting, secured more than one hundred and fifty new 

 species in the waters about the islands. Still we know more about 

 fishes than we do of any of the many other marine forms of life. 



The work of Dr. T. Wayland Vaughn on the corals of Hawaii 

 revealed the fragmentary nature of our knowledge of this impor- 

 tant subject. The researches of Dr. Walter K. Fisher on the 

 Hawaiian Holothuroidea furnishes even more convincing evidence 

 along the same line. In his excellent monograph he describes 

 sixty species of that class as occurring about the Hawaiian Islands, 

 fifty-two of which are reported as new to science. Indeed the possi- 

 bihties of a careful investigation of the coast fauna and flora, 

 down to the limit of the effect of light on ocean forms, can scarcely 

 be conceived. 



DEPARTMENTS OF THE INSTITUTION 



In order to facilitate the exliaustive study of the life history and 

 economic importance of both plants and animals, the establishment 

 of the biological station, an aviary, and a botanical garden in 

 Honolulu are made to take a prominent part in the general scheme. 



These have all received financial support and will be established 

 from time to time by the central institution as supplemental to its 

 work, and will so far as possible be made the center for the work 

 of the Institution in the particular field which they cover. One of 

 the most important will be the Botanical Garden and Tropical 

 Gardens of Acclimatization in which will be grown and studied 

 many of the important plants procured by the Institution's explorers. 

 The production of new and important tropical fruits, flowers, and 

 other economic plants from plants thus introduced will be an 

 important branch of the Institution's applied botanical work. 



The unrivaled situation of the Hawaiian Islands with the 

 diversity of climate which can be obtained in the various altitudes 

 available, should in time make this one of the world's most impor- 

 tant and beautiful botanical gardens. 



An aviary will be provided that will partake of the nature of 



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