7, 
1912] Ritter: The Marine Biological Station of San Diego — 203 
of doubtful value, but the manipulative experience was of 
decided value as suggestive of future effort in this same direction. 
(d) The Adaptations of Organisms 
This problem has been touched in several researches besides 
those occupied expressly with ecology which, in its very essence, 
is to a large extent the problem of adaptation. 
Considering the question of adaptiveness of the specific 
characters of the flagellate infusorian Triposolenia, Kofoid 
(1906e) reaches the conclusion that ‘‘while it is not probable 
that all of the species are all equally well adapted to survive, it 
is evident that they have been and are sufficiently well adapted 
, 
to maintain themselves.’’ In this study, as the quotation indi- 
cates, the author makes use of the important principle that the 
question of adaptation receives much more illumination by treat- 
ing it from the standpoint of the relative adaptiveness of several 
species belonging to a single group, than by giving attention to 
one species alone. Reference will be made to this principle in 
connection with another study. 
In his work on Ceratiwm, already noticed, Kofoid (1908a) 
goes extensively into the question of the adaptiveness of the 
phenomena primarily dealt with (the shedding of the test and 
self-amputation and regrowth of the horns) to various environ- 
mental conditions. He brings forward good reasons for the con- 
clusion that the phenomena mentioned ‘‘assist in the adjustment 
of the specific surface and possibly also of the specific gravity 
to changing conditions of flotation, especially as effected by 
temperature. ’’ 
Dr. Torrey studied the habits and movements of a species of 
anemone in detail (1904b) and recognized some of the activities 
to be clearly adaptive, while others ‘‘appear to have no adaptive 
” 
value whatever. For example certain movements of the ten- 
tacles are very definitely in the interest of securing and using 
food, while others seem to have no purpose either in this way or 
any other. 
In dealing with our common shore anemone, Bunodactis 
canthogrammica, this author (1906a), though not concerned 
directly with the problem of adaptation, points out that the same 
