University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 15 



6. Summary and Conclusion 



In the foregoing discussion it has been shown that : 



1. The function and, strictly speaking, the only function of marine 

 biology is to understand marine organisms. 



2. Broadly interpreted, this means that the significance of no 

 phenomenon essential to the life of any marine organism can be fully 

 understood so long as any other phenomenon likewise essential to it is 

 entirely ignored. 



3. The majority of marine biological institution.s are not engaged 

 in marine biology, but are supporting researches in general biology 

 which only incidentally contribute to marine biology. 



4. Hydrography is as indispensable as morphology, embryologj% 

 cytology, or physiology for understanding the marine organism. 



5. No method of laboratory experimentation can discover an 

 organism's behavior in nature. 



6. Hydrobiologieal relations are too complex to be determined 

 without searching and fairly continuous observations made in a 

 restricted region. 



7. The natural variability in the distribution of marine organisms 

 is so great as to make errors of collecting apparatus practically 

 negligible. 



8. Only an institution primarily engaged in marine biology rather 

 than oceanography or economic biology is in position to investigate 

 comprehensively the hydrobiologieal relations of marine organisms. 



It is hoped this introduction will help to make the hydrographic 

 data and Dr. McEwen's "Summary" contained in this volume appear 

 as interesting and indispensable to the marine biologist as to the 

 hydrographer of this coastal region. 



Transmitted March 30, 1916. 



ScRiPPS Institution for Biological Research, 

 La Jolla, California. 



