December 29, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



751 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPOND- 

 ENCE 

 RESEARCH IN MARINE BIOLOGY 



To THE Editor of Science: Notices of tlie 

 death of Dr. Ailfred Goids'borough Mayor liave 

 referred to ithe lamentable possibility tbat the 

 underbakirig in marine ibiology 'wthich he direot- 

 ed might fail .to be continued. Mr. Potts,! pj-^. 

 fessor Coe,- Dr. Davenport^ and Dr. Schaeffer,* 

 among others, have voiced or hinted at this 

 fear, that a lOhief American instrument for re- 

 search might ibe abandoned. Emphasis has 

 ;been placed upon the unique opportunities 

 until now provided by the Carnegie Institution 

 DepauTtment of Marine Biology for investiga- 

 'tions involving travel to more or less distant 

 places, where material of unusu'ally favorable 

 type might (for a short time) .be available :to 

 especially qualified students. 



There is another side to this matter, and 

 since there seems some likelihood of its toeing 

 overlooked, I ventui'* ito .comment upon it — ^for 

 it is an aspect of marine research concerning 

 which a continuous experience of several 

 years as residenlt naturalist at the Bermuda 

 Biological Station has given me strong con- 

 victions. 



The "easy work" of zoology is to a large 

 extent already done — although I have had ex- 

 pressed .to me, by an eminent naturalist of the 

 elder generation, the thought that "all the hard 

 problems of zoology have .beem solved — you 

 younger .men need only .to fill in the vacant 

 s(po,ts." (Those "vacant spots"!) Research is 

 costly. Adequate return for money and en- 

 ei'gy to ibe invested in biological investigation 

 demands, and lienceforth will inoreasin'gly 

 necessitate, that the conditions attending inves- 

 tigative pursuits be the least unfavorable pos- 

 sible. Those whose varied experiences have 

 provided .an adequate toaekground for judg- 

 ment in this matter are unanimous in the con- 

 viction that the most suitable locations are to 

 be found on the shores of tropical or semi- 



1 Nature, 110, 224. 



'■^ Amer. Jour. Sci., Ser V, 4, 173. 



3 Science, N. S., 56, 134. 



* Science, N. S., 56, 468. 



tropical seas. Supreme variety and aibundance 

 of animals, ease of access to them .throughout 

 the year, a compai-ative isolation conducive to 

 their scholarly and productive treatment — 

 these can toe found in corolbination only in the 

 warmer seas. There, some of the wasteful, 

 merely mechanical, handicaps to fruitful re- 

 search are eliminated. 



It is not too much to .take for granted, ihait 

 studies of this nature are worth while. The 

 financial support of numerous marine stations 

 in America is sufficiently demonstrative. Yet 

 if we examine the actual operation of these 

 existing laboratories, we find that in general 

 they are utilized for productive work during 

 but a small portion of the year. The splendid 

 material possessions of the Woods Hole Lab- 

 oratory, to take an especially noteworthy in- 

 stance, are as good as wasted, so far as re- 

 search is concerned, during some eight to nine 

 months of the year. The plain fact of the 

 matter is that the existing American institu- 

 tions for research in marine biology are either 

 more or less unfortunately situated, with re- 

 gard .to cilimatic conditions or otherwise; or 

 else oveAurdened in their potentiaHy produc- 

 tive seasons by the requirements of elementary 

 instruction — ^necessary work, and I speak of 

 it only with respect; ^ut it is not enough. 



In Mayor's hands it^^e Department of Marine 

 Biology of the Carnegie Institution had before 

 it two large tasks — ^^the conduct of explorative 

 expeditions, and ibhe upkeep of a fixed labora- 

 tory serving as a central resort at favorable 

 seasons. The workers at the Tortugas Labora- 

 tory being recruited fi-om college and univer- 

 sity staffs, and the possible season at Dry Tor-' 

 tugas torief at 'best, ithe actual tune of the 

 laboratoi-y's session each year was necessaj-ily 

 short. The problems atitacka;ble under such 

 conditions are limited in kinds. Some truly 

 fundamental questions can not be faced at all 

 without intimate knowledge of faunal condi- 

 tions over extended periods of time. The no- 

 tion, moreover, that "favorable .m.aterial" for 

 one kind of "prtfblem" is to be found hei-e in 

 this place, for another kind there in that other 

 place, is largely fallacious. Most naturalisits 

 acquainted wi'th the subti-opieal marine fauna 



