824 



SCIENCE. 



[X.S. Vol. XVII. No. 438. 



The extensive reefs and flats abound in 

 almost all groups of marine invertebrates that 

 belong to i^he West Indian fauna, and are 

 easily accessible from Garden Key, where the 

 proposed station would logically be placed. 



2. The unusual purity of the water. This 

 is a condition that will appeal to any one who 

 has had much experience with marine work. 

 There being no city or even town in the im- 

 mediate neighborhood is a decided advantage 

 from this standpoint. Even at Naples, which 

 is now probably the best station in the world, 

 there are many forms that are not successfully 

 kept for any length of time in the aquaria. 

 When the writer was at Plymouth, England, 

 some years ago, the water, although apparently 

 pure, was the cause of much perplexity and 

 discouragement. At the Woods Hole labo- 

 ratories the condition is even worse, and many 

 problems have to be abandoned that could be 

 solved with the aid of such water as could 

 easily be secured at the Tortugas. While it 

 may be claimed that equally pure water could 

 be obtained at other points in the West Indies, 

 I know of no place where it would be so easily 

 introduced into a laboratory. The ship chan- 

 nel runs right by the old quarantine station 

 on Garden Key, and practically no piping 

 would be necessary to utilize it for laboratory 

 purposes. 



3. By far the largest and best stocked 

 aquarium in the world is already established 

 there in the form of the old moat that was 

 of course originally designed to serve quite 

 different purposes. This moat is protected 

 by a solid wall of masonry that at the time 

 of our visit was practically intact and good 

 to serve for many years. The opposite side 

 of the moat is the solid wall of old Fort Jef- 

 ferson. I do not remember the width of the 

 moat, but it must be at least thirty yards, 

 judging from a photograph taken by myself. 

 It is from three to six feet deep, the water 

 is changed at every tide, and its surface is 

 always quiet, except when an unusually heavy 

 storm throws the spray over the outer wall. 

 Here are conditions such as can nowhere else 

 be found. During nearly half a century this 

 moat has been practically undisturbed by man, 

 and has been populated with an extremely rich 



fauna of its own. Here many species of 

 marine animals and plants can be watched 

 daily and hourly, if need be, throughout their 

 lives, and under perfectly natural conditions. 

 Portions of the moat could easily be divided 

 off for particular purposes by the use of wire 

 screens. The breeding and development of 

 many species could be carried on under scien- 

 tific control, and the results would not be 

 vitiated by the objections so constantly raised 

 concerning the unnatural conditions of many 

 of the present laboratory experiments. 



4. Nearness to the Pourtales Plateau. This 

 submarine shelf made famous by the wonder- 

 ful results of the dredging done by the Blake 

 and other vessels lies within easy reach of the 

 Tortugas. This would give an excellent op- 

 portunity to investigate forms of a compara- 

 tively deep-water zone in a region probably 

 unexcelled in richness of fauna by any other 

 in the western hemisphere. 



■ It is improbable that deep-water work is 

 contemplated by those having charge of the 

 movement for a laboratory in this region, but 

 there is no reason why excellent work should 

 not be done in this direction. We were per- 

 fectly successful in dredging on the plateau 

 with a small schooner, with iron rope and 

 an ordinary windlass worked by hand power. 

 Indeed, it was here that we met with our best 

 success. 



5. An abundance of building material. 

 This is already on the spot and could doubt- 

 less be secured for scientific purposes without 

 any cost whatever. Fort Jefferson was orig- 

 inally one of the most extensive fortifica- 

 tions in the United States, but it is now 

 crumbling into ruins. Some parts of the 

 buildings could doubtless be repaired at little 

 cost to serve the purposes of the station, and 

 there are millions of brick and quantities of 

 stone that are serving no purpose whatever. 

 I understand that all this is now in the hands 

 of the U. S. Army, but it could surely be 

 secured for such a purpose as is contemplated 

 if the matter were fairly presented to the 

 proper authorities. 



Another very important matter in this con- 

 nection is the large supply of excellent drink- 

 ing water stored away in the immense cia- 



