No. 401.] MARINE BIOLOGY AT BEAUFORT. 357 
certain fresh water and salt marshes, to a maximum height of 
perhaps forty feet in the case of some of the wind-blown dunes. 
The conditions prevailing on the higher parts of these banks 
are quite peculiar, in that while the shifting sandy soil holds 
very little water, yet the air is very damp, since during the 
growing season the prevailing wind is a strong sea breeze satu- 
rated with moisture. Thus are to be explained, perhaps, the 
frequent occurrence in this very dry soil of many plants which 
usually occupy a much damper soil, and the striking abundance 
of epiphytic lichens, liverworts, mosses, and ferns.” While 
the algal flora is not so varied as on more rocky parts of the 
coast, a very considerable number of species are present in 
abundance. Among these may be mentioned Hypnea musci- 
Sormis, Ulva lactuca, Dictyota dichotoma, Rhabdonia tenera, 
Gracilaria confervoides, Codium tomentosum, Padina pavonia, 
Sargassum vulgare, Dasya elegans, Melobesia pustulata, and 
species of Callithamnion, Ectocarpus, Enteromorpha, and Poly- 
siphonia. 
With its rich and accessible fauna it is not to be wondered 
at that Beaufort should have been so attractive to naturalists. 
Among those who carried on investigations in this locality 
before 1880 may be mentioned Professor Louis Agassiz, Dr. 
Stimpson, Dr. Gill, Dr. Coues, Dr. Yarrow, President Jordan, 
Professor Morse, Professor Packard, Professor Webster. In 
1880 the marine laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, 
which during the previous two years had been located at 
points in the Chesapeake Bay, was stationed here. A large 
house near the extreme eastern end of the town was rented 
continuously, and an excellent equipment, including a 47-foot 
sloop and a steam launch, was provided. Professor Brooks, 
with his students and co-workers, continued their investigations 
year after year at Beaufort (with the exception of 1883, when 
the laboratory was stationed at Hampton, Va.) until 1886, 
when they spent the summer in the Bahama Islands. During 
most of the years since that time the Johns Hopkins laboratory 
has been stationed in the Bahamas or in Jamaica, with returns 
to Beaufort at intervals. The important share which this labo- 
ratory has had, since its inauguration in 1878 at Fort Wool, in 
