196 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1049 



atlas, illustrating respectively the history of 

 presidential elections and the records of votes 

 cast in the House of Representatives for or 

 against certain typical measures of legisla- 

 tion, extending from 1Y89 to 1914, are already 

 well advanced. 



DEPARTMENT OP MARINE BIOLOGY 



In accordance with plans recommended by 

 the director of the department of marine biol- 

 ogy and approved by the trustees in 1912, an 

 expedition to Torres Straits, Australia, a re- 

 gion already known to be remarkable for 

 abundance and variety of marine life, was 

 undertaken in the latter part of the preceding 

 fiscal year. Early in September, 1913, the di- 

 rector and six collaborators arrived at Thurs- 

 day Island in the Straits, expecting to use 

 this relatively accessible island as a base of 

 explorations; but it was soon found advan- 

 tageous to locate on Maer Island, one of the 

 Murray group, about 120 miles east-northeast, 

 and near to the outer limit of Great Barrier 

 Eeef. Here a temporary laboratory was set 

 up in the local courthouse and jail, gener- 

 ously placed at Dr. Mayer's disposal by the 

 British authorities. The region proved to be 

 one rich in coral reefs and in marine fauna 

 for the work contemplated. Observations and 

 experiments securing gratifying results were 

 carried out during the spring months (in the 

 southern hemisphere) of September and Oc- 

 tober, 1913. In addition to the critical data 

 secured by Dr. Mayer with respect to the 

 corals about Maer Island, for comparison 

 especially with corresponding data from the 

 corals of Florida waters, observations and ma- 

 terials for important contributions to zoology 

 were collected by each of his collaborators. 

 One report, by Dr. H. L. Clark, is now in 

 process of publication and is remarkable for 

 the new species of echinoderms described and 

 for the admirable drawings of these forms 

 made from life by Mr. E. M. Grosse, of Syd- 

 ney, Australia, who accompanied the expedi- 

 tion. 



• On returning to America from the southern 

 hemisphere, the director was engaged, during 

 April and May, in two minor expeditions with 



the departmental vessel Anton Dohrn. The 

 iirst of these was in aid of the researches of 

 Dr. Paul Bartsch, on eerions, and required a 

 cruise along the Florida Keys from Miami to 

 Tortugas and return. The second expedition 

 was in aid especially of Dr. T. W. Vaughan, 

 long associated with the department in studies 

 of corals and related deposits, and required a 

 cruise from Miami, Florida, to the Bahamas 

 and return. On June 9, 1914, work was re- 

 sumed at the Tortugas Laboratory and con- 

 tinued until July 30. In all, fifteen collabora- 

 tors during the year have availed themselves 

 of the facilities afforded by the department. 

 Brief accounts of their varied researches may 

 be found in the director's report in the cur- 

 rent year book, while detailed accounts may 

 be expected in due time in the departmental 

 contributions. 



Attention is invited to an interesting sec- 

 tion of the director's report devoted to a sum- 

 mary of the work accomplished by the de- 

 partment during the first decade of its exist- 

 ence. This section is instructive in showing 

 that a decade is the smallest convenient unit 

 of time for adequate estimation of the activ- 

 ities of such an establishment. It appears 

 that dtiring this decade 49 investigators have 

 made use of the Tortugas laboratory, 28 of 

 these having returned two or more times, 

 making a total of 108 visits to this relatively 

 inaccessible center of research. Of the publi- 

 cations emanating from the department, 60 

 have been published by the institution, while 

 upwards of 40 have been published under other 

 auspices; the institution has issued 2,551 

 printed pages and 269 plates exclusive of an- 

 nual reports appearing in the year books. 



DEPARTMENT OF MERIDIAN ASTROMETRY 



The activities of the department of meri- 

 dian astrometry are concentrated on the de- 

 rivation of stellar positions for the compre- 

 hensive catalogue in preparation, on supple- 

 mentary measurements of stellar coordinates 

 with the meridian circle of the Dudley Ob- 

 servatory, and on investigations of residual 

 stellar motions. The latter have now become 

 the most important element in the definition 



