=~] 
oN 
1912] Ritter: The Marine Biological Station of San Diego 1 
it, has seemingly made it do as good work as it is capable of 
doing, exactly how valuable the results will be from the biological 
standpoint is yet to be seen. 
IV. THE ‘‘ALEXANDER AGASSIZ,’’ ITS SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT 
AND METHODS OF WORK 
1. THe Boar Irsetr 
The loss of the station’s first boat, the ‘‘Loma,’’ in 1906, 
necessitated the building of another. A prime aim in designing 
the new craft was to make her capable of working in the shallow 
waters of the bays and close-in-shore areas, as well as in any 
part of the Pacific Ocean that had been roughly laid off as the 
“San Diego Region.’”’ It is shown in an earlier publication 
(Ritter, 1905) that this area is a triangle having a shore line 
boundary of about two hundred and eighty miles from Point 
Conception at the north to the limits of California and the 
United States at the south; a west side boundary in the open 
ocean of about one hundred and twenty miles; and a south side 
boundary, also entirely in the ocean, of about two hundred miles. 
The tract contains approximately twelve thousand square miles 
and is nearly coextensive with the continental shelf of this 
part of the coast. The west and south limits, being entirely 
arbitrary so far as the sea bottom is concerned, have to be 
extended somewhat in order that two very important features 
belonging to the shelf, namely Los Coronados Islands and 
Cortez Bank, may be included. Within the area occur depths 
of nearly eleven hundred fathoms which must be explored if 
anything like a comprehensive study of the whole is to be made. 
This indication of the duties that would devolve upon the boat 
makes it obvious that she would have to be of considerable 
capacity, not only for strictly scientific work but also for carry- 
ing men and supplies. She would have to be good for cruises 
of at least a week’s duration, and the programme laid out would 
make it impossible for’ her wholly to escape heavy seas and 
rough weather. 
After much discussion among ourselves and conferring with 
seamen experienced in work more or less similar to that upon 
