2 
The Canal Zone Biological Area came into being in 1923 under the 
sponsorship of the National Research Council. The pioneers of this 
endeavor ire re Mr* Zetek, who had gone to the Canal Zone in 1911 as an en¬ 
tomologist and had served the Republic of Panama, the Canal Zone Board of 
Health Laboratory, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture! and the late 
Dr. Thomas Barbour, of Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. It was 
Mr. Zetek who urged Governor Jay J. Morrow of the Canal Zone to approve 
Barro Colorado Island as a biological preserve. 
Since that time the island has been visited by distinguished 
scientists from all over the world who have studied such things as blood¬ 
sucking flies, tropical plants, stingless bees', birds, army ants, spiders, 
termites, and fungus. Probably nowhere else in the world can be found 
the combination of unspoiled tropical jungle and healthful laboratory 
surroundings that attracts visiting scientists. 
However, the biological area did not achieve permanent status until 
19ir0, when Congress officially authorized the reservation of the area for 
scientific study. No appropriation was then made, but during World War II 
several Government agencies contributed to its support while important 
research was going on. In 191*6 the Canal Zone Biological Area became a 
branch of the Smithsonian Institution. 
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