98 THE CONDOR Vol. XXII 
being connected with the Survey was greatly enhanced owing to the fact that 
most of my associates were old and tried friends, to work with whom was like 
the renewing of old ties. 
From this time on my duties lay chiefly in the administrative field, and 
included many subjects of interest and importance. From the first moment of 
my connection with the Survey I was impressed by the need of pushing all 
projects having a distinct economic bearing, as the boll weevil investigations, 
the food of birds in its relation to agriculture, the economic relations of our 
mammals, especially certain of the rodents, the protection of the waterfow!] 
and of insectivorous birds and of large game; and it was to the development 
of these subjects that I gave most time and thought. 
STUDY OF DIATOMS 
I had always been interested in the microscope, although I had never done 
any serious work in the microscopic field, and had, indeed, never owned an 
instrument other than a pocket lens till in Hawaii when I equipped myself 
with a really good modern instrument. This I used chiefly in the study of 
shells, the teeth of mollusks furnishing characters of considerable value in 
their classification. 
When I returned to Washington I found much interest and pleasure dur- 
ing evenings in studying pond life. This is a little world by itself, of inex- 
haustible interest and beauty, and as completely unknown to the uninitiated 
person as though he were on another planet. In the course of my investigations 
in fields microscopic, I made the acquaintance of diatoms, which may be briefly 
described as microscopic plants, chiefly built of silica, of almost infinite vari- 
ety of form, and ornamented with bead and scroll work so as to be of surpass- 
ing beauty. Diatoms inhabit the waters of the earth, salt and fresh. in incon- 
ceivable multitudes, and form the food of many fishes as well as that of num- 
erous small creatures which in their turn are devoured by fish. Hence, small 
as they are, they are of great economic importance. 
Desirous of knowing more about diatoms than appeared in the literature 
accessible to me, I applied to Dr. Albert Mann, whose life-long studies in this 
field have made him passed master of the subject. When he showed me some 
slides of mounted diatoms I politely but firmly declined to believe that they 
had been mounted by human hands but must, I asserted, have grown in place. 
A demonstration of his method of mounting these minute creations, many of 
them less than a thousandth of an inch long, immediately followed and inspired 
me with such enthusiasm that I did not rest till I, too, was able to make dia- 
tom slides, which even the master was constrained to pronounce good. For 
several years I devoted, and still devote, much spare time searching for and 
permanently embalming in balsam these ‘‘gems of the plant world’’, until my 
collection of slides reaches into the thousands, many of the species being rare 
and others new to science. 
During the summer of 1918, in company with Dr. Mann, I spent several 
weeks at Wood’s Hole. Massachusetts, as the guest of the Bureau of Fisheries 
investigating the diatom life of that interesting region with special reference 
to the economic value of this water grass, as diatoms may be appropriately 
ealled, as food for fish and for such small organisms as constitute fish food. 
This work, or rather play, has naturally led to an intimate acquaintance 
and firm friendship with Dr. Mann, and this I regard as by far the most. valu- 
