May 22, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



825 



terns, originally intended to serve for a sup- 

 ply for thousands of men. Any one who has 

 worked in tropical regions will appreciate what 

 it means to have abundant fresh water that 

 is good and sweet and cool. This, together 

 with the absence of mosquitoes, would be a 

 very forceful argument in favor of the Tor- 

 tugas with naturalists of experience in, warm 

 regions. 



Of course it is possible that some of the 

 conditions have changed since the writer vis- 

 ited the Tortugas. For instance, the moat 

 may have become partly filled up, or the 

 channel may have changed so as to block the 

 way to the old quarantine building. But it 

 does not seem likely that conditions are 

 greatly different from those described above, 

 or that the changes are such as materially to 

 miodify the advantages of that locality for 

 a marine biological laboratory. It has been 

 my purpose to mention particularly certain 

 advantages that would not occur to one not 

 acquainted with the local situation, and it 

 appears to me that these considerations are 

 of unusual weight in the present case. 



Taking into consideration the whole body 

 of American workers that could use such a 

 station to advantage, it can hardly be said 

 that the Tortugas are less accessible than the 

 other localities suggested in the letters pub- 

 lished by Dr. Mayer, i. e., the Bermudas or 

 Jamaica. For those living in the central or 

 western states the Tortugas are more access- 

 ible than either of these. Of course if a 

 station were established at the Tortugas, it 

 should possess its own means of transferring 

 workers and supplies to the mainland. 



C. C. Nutting. 



State University of Iowa, 

 May 2, 1903. 



I AM asked whether I approve or disapprove 

 of the plan to establish a marine biological 

 laboratory for research in the tropical Atlan- 

 tic. Considfered solely with reference to the 

 good of science, it is impossible to see how 

 any biologist could disapprove such a plan. 

 Thus viewed, the only room for discussion 

 would seem to be as to what the aims of such 

 a laboratory should be. But even here it 



seems to me there should be little hesitation, 

 so far, at least, as generalities are concerned. 

 The proposed laboratory should, of course, aim 

 to provide facilities for any investigator, at 

 any time, to carry on any investigation for 

 which the opportunities furnished by nature 

 should be good. This general purpose re- 

 quires no advocating, since it is essentially 

 one that has been held by most, if not all, 

 American marine laboratories, and hence 

 would probably be foremost with this. 



What does need urging, it seems to me, is 

 that this new laboratory should not limit 

 itself to this purpose. In addition to its be- 

 ing a laboratory where anybody can do any 

 kind of work in which he may be interested, 

 let it have an aim of its own, as a laboratory. 

 Let it set for itself the task of investigating 

 .the sum total of the life and the life condi- 

 tions of the area in which it shall be located. 

 Let it undertake a biological survey of the 

 region. This will require organized, con- 

 tinuous and long-continued effort. 



In no American seas is there being biolog- 

 ical work done in any way comparable with 

 what, for example, Scandinavian and German 

 naturalists are doing in the North and Baltic 

 seas, and the Liverpool biological committee 

 is doing in the Irish sea. Yet whether re- 

 garded from the strictly scientific point of 

 view, or from the point of view of the eco- 

 nomic interests of marine life, few aspects 

 of biology promise surer and more important 

 results than do investigations of this sort. 



The work done by our seaside laboratories 

 has been altogether too narrow, and the 

 foundation of a new one in the tropical At- 

 lantic would be a peculiarly favorable oppor- 

 tunity to broaden out. Wm. E. Eittbr. 



University op California, 

 May 3, 1903. 



To the Editor of Science: The plan to es- 

 tablish a marine biological laboratory in the 

 tropical Atlantic is one of which I am heartily 

 in favor. 



Although I have never visited the Tortugas, 

 I have received many interesting collections 

 from there and appreciate their wealth of 

 characteristic coral-reef fauna. At some 



